Saturday, August 9, 2008

Saturday 9th

This morning Sam's was improved with Temp as low as 37.0. They were able to get him out of his ice blankets and off of the paralytic drugs.

Later in the day, his temp was up again and it looked like his central line had the beginning of an infection. The central line is where all of his meds come together and are injected through one tube that is stitched into his chest. A quick count a few minutes ago looks like they have about 5 bags hanging and injecting various things. I'm sure that number changes from time to time. At any rate, a quick culture confirmed that the line needed to be moved / replaced; apparently quite the operation since every tube going in was replaced as well.

As of right now, he is getting some antibiotics and is back in his cooling suit. Temp was 38.2, and ICP about 20 though it has been hovering in the mid teens most of the day.

Here is my own personal, non medical, observation I had earlier today. I was trying not to scratch the itch where some of my scabs are coming off, noticing the color change in the airbag bruise on my forearm and stewing about why Sam was holding stable but not improving as fast as I would prefer. It occurred to me then that if my forearm was still bruised, and the brain is made of more fragile stuff, why would I expect him to heal any faster than me? I know that my arm is a poor comparison to Sam's brain, but it is a reminder that these things take time.

As with every day, your prayers, positive thoughts and meditations are gratefully received, appreciated and felt.

-- Patton
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are praying all time. We love you all so much. God Bless you all..Steph I love you and im here for you as well as Cameron. Be strong!!! Heather James and Gracie too.Albany, Or

August 9, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Anonymous said...

Hi, kid! Glad to hear you are on the mend, though it does take time. I certainly know that! As my own doctors have told me countless times, so much depends on the strength and fighting spirit of the patient, and this makes me smile knowing that you are a fighter! I think it runs in the family. ;-)

Today was a long day. Bernd packed in the morning, and we had our last coffee on the lanai where, as Alex had said, we had three lizards last night. I think they are geckos, just like in the insurance commercials for Geico (though I think I like some of the caveman commercials better--what about you?). We went to the airport and Bernd was off to Seattle in the early afternoon. On the way back to Kihei, I stopped at a little store between Kihei and Wailea and got a great T-shirt for you. I showed it to Alex and it got his "seal of approval" as being "cool," so we think you'll like it! Alex also has a special present for you from Hawaii that is just from him. He's so excited to give it to you.

He wasn't able to get on tonight, as we couldn't get online before his bedtime, but he did ask me to make sure and tell you that he loves you and you are in his prayers and he is very excited to see you and give you all these little goodies we're collecting for you in Hawaii! He spent some time today locating some good "yo mamma" jokes that he wants to send you. Alex is reallly hoping that they'll make you laugh. :-D

I found you some yummy Kona coffee tonight when I was at the store getting our third gallon of milk and third batch of bananas and assorted other groceries for our last few days here. I'm sure you know how much milk a growing young man goes through, aren't you? :-) It's really quite amazing. I remember when your dad was young, I think he could drink a gallon milk every day if he was thirsty!

I took Alex out for dinner tonight for a treat and he had a neat little pepperoni pizza and some pop. Then we went to Peggy Sue's for some old-fashioned ice cream. He mentioned that he wished you could be with us, and I agree. We both thought you'd like this ice cream. It was really good! Unfortunately, we can't bring any of it back for you, as it would melt in the suitcase and make a terrible mess (kind of like I've had happen with shampoo and such, you know?).

They had the big Classic Car Drive-In tonight at Peggy Sue's, and Alex and I spent about an hour browsing row after row of old cars. Very cool! They had everything from Model Ts to Studebakers to late 40s pickup trucks to WWII cars (Packards? I don't remember what they were called...maybe you know?) to a 68 Camero 350SS and a 50s Porsche, a 58 Corvette, and even a 1963 Austin Healey Mark 3000. Wow. I hadn't seen one of those since Papa had his out in the driveway! They were playing old 50s music (before your time, I know!) and Alex and I danced a bit to some old Elvis and other music, though he eventually got embarrassed by his old mom and we stopped. ;-)

Alex is just in hog heaven here, since he gets three root beers a day so we can use them up these last several days. They're Diet Mug Root Beer (no sugared pop), but he just loves them. We had to drink plenty of water, which is hard sometimes, but I brought along some banana strawberry orange flavored Crysal Light and we keep a pitcher of that in the fridge along with a big pitcher of cold water. The water here doesn't taste all that good, but it's good when it's cold and it's a hot day, as it has been!

I found a yummy treat for Papa and Grammy and we're bringing it along, too. I'm sure Papa would share some of his favorite goodies with you if you're real nice to him. What do you think? :-)

Well, it's almost midnight here, so I need to get to bed soon. I can't sleep very late here because it gets too hot, and the bed here is lumpy. Alex has a big queen-sized sofa bed in the living room and he has a great time sleeping on it. Do you like those pull-out sofa beds? I don't think I've ever used one, but I may try it before we leave. Alex also has a daybed that he doesn't use (except as a pit stop for his Nintendo, swimming goggles, and other assorted goodies!).

Okay, we'll "talk" to you tomorrow and Alex should be able to post something for you if it's not past his bedtime by then. We had a big bunch of strong wind today, but we didn't lose power again, which is good! It wasn't a big storm this time, but we did get some emergency candles that we can use if the power goes out again. Luckily, wben the power went out, it wasn't winter in Portland! Brrr!

Hang in there and keep getting better every day! You have people on at least two continents praying for you now. Pretty cool. :-)

August 10, 2008 at 3:06 AM

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