So Many Unknowns

A hard day.  The nitroglycerin cream that the vascular surgeons thought could help my dad did not work.  It had been placed on both hands and both feet, but was bad for his skin and did not appear to have any benefit.  Dad is off the BP medication completely.  The negative consequences of which may be too unsettling for me to comment on.

He is not responding as they would expect, coming off the sedation and paralytic.  There is very little response if any.  Sometimes a mild gag reflex, sometimes pupil dilation, but absolutely no movement as there has been on previous days.  Since this is the case, they have taken him off all pain medication, figuring they would make it as uncomfortable as possible.  Usually, an individual in such a situation would try to shift or wince.  The CT scans indicate a moderate brain injury, however there are other indications of quite a severe one.  So they have removed the bolt from his head, indicating the ICP was stable, below 20 over the last day, for the purpose of performing an MRI.  The MRI will tell us a lot more about what is going on with his brain.  He had not been moved down to get the MRI by the time we left.  We hope by tomorrow it will have been completed. 

Some of my parents' best friends, Greg and Sandy, showed up today.  Greg seemed to learn different information from the doctor than me.  He was a lot more encouraged by the news and really rallied our spirits.  Our dad needs to WAKE UP.  He needs to get his hands and feet moving and get the blood moving.  Greg and, Kristi's husband, Aaron gave him another blessing.  (Thank you.)  Each of us kids (me, Jake, Becki, Kristi) have so much hope and love for Dad.  I hope he was able to feel the presence of all of us there in the room.