Saturday, January 3, 2009

Eventful Day

Friday the 2nd was an eventful day. The first visit of the day the doctor told Brent and Mom that Dad had a rough night. The intercranial pressure had been high for a lot of the night. This caused the doctors and nurses to aggressively treat Dad with medicine to keep this down. The first brain surgeon from the ER that has remained Dad's doctor met with Mom and Brent to let them know the treatment plan needed to change from one of slowly backing off of medication to aggressively treating with medicine to ensure the pressure stayed down. This meant that it would be at least another week before Dad could be off of sedation and the breathing tube.
The doctor also let Mom and Brent know that he was going on vacation for about a week as he was overdue for some time off. But he has transferred the case to a second doctor, who was influential in his career. He said that when he was in school this new doctor inspired him to become a brain surgeon and has respected him ever since. Around 5 pm the nurses let Mom and Brent know that surgery might be necessary during the night if the medicines could not keep the pressure down. A large clot behind the left eye was causing a lot of pressure and it might be necessary to remove the clot. Due to the large amount of medication in the night shift the nurse was dedicated to Dad only (usually have 2 patients per nurse).
Mom and Brent didn't visit much with Dad during the 8:00pm visitation hour because the brain activity and brain pressure indicators were higher than they wanted them to be and thought it best to not stimulate Dad. So they left the hospital earlier than usual to try to get rest as there was a possibility the night could involve surgery. We were praying that was not necessary though because when removing the clot it would be almost impossible to not also remove some healthy brain tissue.

2 comments:

Peggy Blanton said...

Lucy Beth, You are in my prayers, lovely lady. Peggy (used to be Hamil) Blanton

Karen Floyd said...

My sister, Sharon Mills, informed me of Jerry's incident at church. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this difficult time. I pray for healing and peace for you. Much love. Karen Crofford Floyd - Canadian, Texas