2020 08 17

2020 09 17

Day 12

Alex Status:

Sunday Alex made several attempts to wake up. He opened his eyes a lot but it didn't appear as though he could see.  He is still heavily sedated. The doctors want to keep him as calm as possible to allow his brain to recover therefore they sedated him a little deeper.  Most of his vital signs are giving the impression that the swelling in his brain is going down. He may (or may not) be having an mri this morning to confirm that this is true (that his swelling is going down).

Sunday he was on less medication and holding his stance so an mri was scheduled.  Over night the eeg showed that he may be having  seizures which in turn increases his blood pressure. As of last night and early morning todays focus is now to manage his seizures and reduce his blood pressure.

Our Satus:

Right now we sit in a chair about 10 feet away from him. We sit and watch him sleep. Even though he is entangled in wires. Iv lines, respiratory hoses, bandages, Eeg leads, pressure cuffs and temperature regulating blanket. 

We sit and watch him sleep.

We listen for his breathing even though we can not hear a thing over the mechanical system that recycles the air within the room nonstop.  The force of the air supply and return is so loud and intense but we hear it and we put it in the back of our mind.  The sound of the mechanical system is there, it is loud but it doesn't effect our being.

We listen for his breathing as we pray but often get interrupted by the dings, beeps, honks and the flashing lights of the pumps that supply his medications and his ivs. We often get interrupted by the loud alarms that beep, ding and or honk when his vital signs or respiratory numbers go above or below the set parameters. Every time one of these alarms goes off (which 2 days ago was very often) our hearts skip a beat. Each beep, ding, honk lets the doctors know of an issue. Each beep, ding and honk raises our blood pressure, our anxiety. Etc.. (A good sign is that Sundays alarms were very much less than Saturdays and Fridays).

We sit and watch even though we can not completely see him the way that we want to see him...we sit and listen even though we can not hear him the way that we want to hear him.

Prayer:

Lord God. Remain by Alexs' side.

Help him to recover peacefully.

Lord Thank you for the progress that we see and we want to thank you in advance for the cures and the healing that YOU WILL bring today.

This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be.  If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely.  If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly.  If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. If I am to do nothing. Let me do it gallantly.  Make these words more than words, and give me the spirit of Jesus

Amen.

Cycling Analogy;

On the flat road. We pedal. We pedal and feel like we can push...we push just a little and the gears skip. It is annoying...we want to push to get the distance and the gears skip...

We change gears to where they wont skip and we pedal...take a deep breadth tell ourselves that we should be content here because we will be alright.