Day 21: Some good news and some Bad news

I think I will start with the good news.... It sounds like tomorrow will be the day for sure that he transfers to Barrow. We never know for sure for sure until it actually happens, but both Barrow and St. Joseph's are planning on the tranfer to occur tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

Ashley and I were taken on a tour of the Barrow facility today. Also, he is guaranteed to get a private room because he was at Select...and any stay at a LTAC facility is considered to "contaminate" the patient. Since he has been officially "contaminated", he will be assured a private room, which is a bonus for us since one of us stays with him at all times. Oh,.... He will get to wear clothes at Barrow....no more hospital gowns...wahoo! Although, hospital gowns are definitely funtional during these early days!

The bad news is that Scott is likely blind in his right eye. The opthamologist came in today to do the follow-up examination of his right eye. He said that Scott has "Marcus Gunn Pupil".... To which Scott responded, "Dang it! That's not good!" Scott is right. Marcus Gunn Pupil is a pupillary response to a moving light (sorry,.., too tired to give more of an explanation tonight)... It is indicative of an optic nerve lesion. It is unlikely to repair. He is likely to have permanent loss of sight in his right eye.

Scott has been remembering medical terms fairly consistently, which is encouraging. For instance, today he asked me why he was a patient. I told him, then I asked him if he wanted to know about all of his injuries, which he did. I told him about the radius fracture and said that he had an ORIF. I said, "You know what an ORIF is, right?". He responded with, "Yes, open reduction, internal fixation", which is the correct reponse for those not in the medical field. He also knew what diffuse axonsl injury was.

Yesterday, he used the word emesis (vomiting) appropriately when responding to my question re: how he was feeling. Today he also knew who the president of the United States was, the president of the church, and where he was. He was not able to answer those correctly yesterday. He remembers that he is going to Barrow soon and he remembers that his brother, Ryan, is coming Thursday. He still talks nonsense when he is tired, but that, too, is lessening. Today felt so much more cognitive and aware than yesterday. Still hoping his trach will come out soon! In speaking with the Barrow representative today, she assured us they would get it taken out tomorrow when he arrives. We know he has to have it in a minimum time for adequate healing over of the wound, but the pulmonologist was planning on taking it out last week, saying he was ready then. It is a smart idea to leave it in for his surgery, but,....now it just feels cruel to leave it in this much longer. Oh well, fortunately he is a good sport!

Seriously, I am so very grateful that he is still so sweet, gracious, appreciative, tender and loving. He has not demonstrated any harsh behaviors or language ...yet ?!?... As they warned us he would. I'm pretty sure it would break my heart to see him lose his sweetness. I am so very grateful for this mercy. Apologies.... I am writing this on an ipad....new to me, so there is a learning curve (although, it is an amazingly simple piece of technology.) The blog I wrote earlier today had the appropriate spacing for easy reading, but when I refer back to it tonight, it is one big huge run on sentence. Hmmmmm..... Hopefully, it is just on my screen, and you have spaces when you read it.... Annoying! It is also taking me forever to write a few simple paragraphs, but I hope I will get faster with time. Haven't had time to get the photos loaded.... Time flies sooo quickly.... I have pictures of him walking,so... I hope to get them loaded soon. It's so fast and simple with my computer, but my computer is land locked, so.... Needed a portable option. Tomorrow... Hopefully! It doesn't help that every few minutes I am popping up to prevent him from getting out of bed on his own. So... I apologize for spacing issues, unchecked typos, no photos, rambling sentences... etc. Talk to ya tomorrow!

Patti