Things are looking up :)

Angelique and I went to see Jon yesterday and caught him in one of his awake periods. The nurses were busy with him when we first arrived so we had to wait outside the room. This gave us a chance to "eavesdrop." They were telling him that they would try to start the "weaning" process with the ventilator tomorrow (today)...he is sooo anxious to get rid of all that head gear. Evidently he has been batting at it because not only was it fastened securely to his head he had cloth strips loosely tied to his wrists that allowed for movement, but not enough so for him to reach his face! Not only does he have to keep his oxygen level up when breathing on a reduced flow from the ventilator he has to be able to produce a "productive cough."

He was delighted to see us. Angelique is much better with lip reading than I but when he has stuff in his mouth it makes it very difficult--even for her. When w asked him to spell the words we weren't getting the nurse produced a flyer that has the alphabet. He can point to the letters to spell the words. Usually it just takes a few letters at the beginning of a word. He got a "k" and an "i". Angelique kiddingly said "the next letter better not be an "l" and he shook his head violently. I guessed "kiss" and he nodded just as vigorously for a yes. So we both gave him a big smooch.

His urine looks quite normal now-just a little dark. The nurse said occasionally it still has some clouds but on the whole is much better. She also said that part of the explanation for his unresponsive state when we first saw him Thursday night was due to the urine backing up in his system. Add to that the drainage of so much urine at one time is hard on the body also. So I guess he had had kind of a double whammy to the system. Kidney function is now normal.

They have resumed the tube feedings and he is tolerating them well. The other new thing we noticed were the "mini air bags" (not a scientific name at all but I can't remember what they are called!") They are long and fit on his calf and have the air pressure fluctuating to prevent blood clots. In all this time that he's been confined to bedrest no one has put them on him. He had them the first few months after the accident though.

Jon wasn't wearing hand splints--I have them in my car and they didn't ask about them. But I did notice that he was working his left hand. He can make some flexing movement but not much.

Jon will likely be in the ICU for at least 1 or 2 more days. He might be transferred to the "step down" unit or be able to go back to a nursing home level of care. Nurses can't second guess that! Still haven't run into a doctor except for a very brief meeting on Thursday evening.

It was good to see him awake. He was quite tired after a half an hour so we left.

Barb called this morning to check on how he was doing. The nurse said he was keeping him busy with "commands." She hurriedly explained it wasn't necessarily a bad thing he just needed repositioning or the TV channel changed. She also said he slept well and did not indicate any pain. Food tube is running at 50 mL an hour. If he tolerates that well it will be slowly increased every 4 hours.

I will be going to see him this afternoon so I'll see how everything is going.