Monday-Tuesday Update (2/21/05-2/22/05)

Monday dad was pretty stable, nothing really
changed.
Tuesday the paralyzing medication was stopped.
His ICP numbers were averaging 9-11. His blood
pressure was high so he was given some medication
to drop it. As the paralyzing medication started
wearing off we could see some movement in his
body. His feet were flexing and rotating a
little bit.
We were standing beside his bed and he started
shivering then his heart rate went up and his
breathing went up from the ventilator preset
of 14 breaths per minute to like 20 and above.
He then lifted his upper body a bit and pulled
his legs and arms in slightly. Kind of like
when you sneeze. Then we could hear gurgling
sounds from his mouth. He did that a couple
of times. It really startled us. The nurse said
he is just coughing. He has accumulated liquid
in his lungs from laying there inactive. Now his
body is trying to expel it by coughing. A good
sign that his body is responding somewhat
normally. She continued to suction out his
lungs a bit and removed a bit more. Then he
settled back down. He also continued to move
his feet a little bit.

We don't know if he was consciously moving
his body or not but that is more movement than what
 we have seen. He is still under a fair amount of
sedation. We are waiting for his body to tell us
when he is ready to drop the sedatives. We will
just keep waiting for now.

Shawn...