Sunday, November 9, 2008

A Quiet Day

Jon had a quiet day today. He got to sit in his chair. This helps his breathing which was much easier today. In fact, maybe a little too easy. He had long pauses in his breathing which made a little alarm go off and then he would start breathing again...kind of like sleep apnea, they said. He is on antibiotics again for pneumonia and we discovered that when they put the filter in for blood clots they also started giving him a daily shot of Lovenox which is a blood thinner. We are very familiar with this drug since Barbara has been taking it ever since her operation last January. She had the filter also, but it has since been removed.

He is still back on the ventilator. Everyone is resting a little easier with that news, even though it seems to be a step back, since his body doesn’t have to work as hard. This does prevent taking sips of water, or even ice chips, and puts off eating for a while. His heart rate is being kept up with the use of a motion sickness patch on his neck. Don’t ask us how that works!!

We also heard the word “severed” for the first time last night. We understood that the cord was just pinched by the C 6 vertebrae and probably would not regain its original shape or function but with the way science has progressed in this field I had secret hopes that someday some repair could be made. Now they are saying the cord is actually severed there. This puts him in the class of quadriplegic which limits a lot of expectations as his fine motor skills in his hands may not develop like we had hoped. We did learn that most successful rehabilitation happens in the first seven years from the injury. So let’s get those scientists moving!

As always, your prayers, cards, and concern are greatly appreciated.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

HI all,
Have been reading all the updates and am amazed at the progress that Jon has made. Yes, we have to except setbacks also, but with spinal injuries there is a lot to deal with. Jon is in our daily prayers and thoughts. Jon keep up the hard work.
Love,
your cousin Deb