Today was another stable day. Jeremy's ICP has been running a bit higher since they switched his drain over so it only drains outside of his body if his ICP is 20 or above. It only reached that point a couple times today. That's good as it means his body is able to take care of the cerebral spinal fluid on it's own. Of course since we've had some really good days, we got some bad news this morning. Jeremy has a blood clot in each of his arms. They thought he had a blood clot in his leg a while back and it turned out to just be an artifact as it was no longer there when they scanned him again. The blood clots today were confirmed and we are worried about the possibility of one or both of them breaking loose and traveling into his lungs. The trauma staff put him on a blood thinner due to the clots, but the neuro staff took him off because they had no way to ensure his brain wouldn't begin to bleed again. More bleeding could lead to more brain damage, so it's a bit of a lose-lose situation. We just have to hope the clots either go away or don't break lose. In exciting news they started weaning him off the pentobarbital and he is now at 3.75 mg per kg of body weight, down from 4.5 mg per kg of body weight yesterday! They are estimating it will take about 4 days to fully wean him assuming there are no set backs. Once he's weaned off the medicine they said it will take 15-50 hours for it to fully be out of his system. With the way he's been burning through drugs, we anticipate he will be on the shorter end of that range. He has been doing great with the decrease in pento with his ICP staying the same and more frequent patterns on the EEG. We are still hopeful he will have a decent amount of brain function when he comes out of this. With the amount of bleeding and trauma to his brain there could be any range of outcomes. We have been told there will definitely be some damage. Best case scenario would result in minor changes that only we notice. Worst case scenario would be very limited functioning. On a side note, my dad ended up in the ER last night with multiple hernias. So now on top of the surgery he had on his eye today, he will be having hernia surgery in the near future. My poor parents keep having more things added to their plates, but they are taking it all in stride. Keep up the prayers and positive thoughts!
Eating a gingerbread man from Great Grandma.
Walking around on the art museum grounds.
Climbing trees on the art museum grounds.
Elise trying cherries for the first time.
Elise and I got to eat lunch with Captain America.
Carter was excited for our first shopping trip with Elise sitting beside him in the cart!
One of the sample was a container of mixed fruit, Carter saved back the apples for Elise because he knew she could eat them.
Carter sat down to read Elise some books while she played in the hall.
Carter telling Opa stories.
Elise first figuring out how to pull up to a stand.
Elise eating black beans for the first time.
Elise eating cottage cheese for the first time.
They both decided they wanted to take a shower with me. Elise kept trying to climb in and I didn't want her to get hurt, so I gave in!
Playing with a flashlight while we visited the cats at Uncie J's house.
Carter helped me clean Uncie J's house.
They had Mr. Jones surrounded.
Elise eating rice for the first time.
Oma made them matching mittens while visiting the hospital.
Carter was reading to Elise, but of course she crawled off when I took a picture.
Carter setting the table for guests.
With all the toys at the Children's Museum, Carter still stops to read books.
Elise trying a homemade potato wedge.
This is how she now greets me in the morning.
Elise waving good morning to me.
Now that she's figured it out, she's standing EVERYWHERE!
The puzzle races were fun, and the cake was delicious! Thanks. We should have taken a picture of the table, it was very pretty.
ReplyDeleteCarter was hilarious, "I will win you!"
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