January 1st, 2009

This is a picture of Brian from August 4, 2007! I am trying to give the most current up to date facts to family and friends on this website. I have a tendency to focus on the positive and only hear the good stuff but I am doing my best. He is still trucking along and he is doing everything they want him to do. I visited him last night and the night nurse, Mike, was awesome. He said Brian was experiencing ICU delirium (he seems anxious & jerky & mumbles incoherently) and if he was a normal patient he would just sedate him. Since Brian is a neuro patient he just wants him to come back all the way. This is what all patients go through after being heavily sedated from being on a vent. The nurse said he has had periods of lucidity and this is good. He is coming back to us in pieces. He was moving a lot but calmed down after I stayed with him for a while. Today is amazing too! No doctors have been here because it's a holiday but nurses are following protocol and he is very stable. He has a feeding tube and a banana bag (vitamins) along with pills that are given to him through the tube. He is fiesty and wants that tube out of his nose, so when he is left alone the nurses have his hands in restraints. They plan on moving out of ICU tomorrow. I visited him this afternoon and he told me he "feels like shit" he also sat up in bed all by himself. He just used his back and stomach muscles to do this. He moves his feet and hands but the function isn't 100 percent and it's hard to tell if it is intentional or just a reaction. He is able to stratch his nose and grip and that's better than nothing. The EMT's/paramedics have also been calling the ICU every day to check on Brian. Their story keeps getting better and better, like how they had to walk an 1/8th of mile in the snow to get to our house! When really they got stuck in the driveway and was flagged to the correct house by Gail. We will have to personally thank those guys along with every one else who have been working on Brian and just thinking about us. We are still so glad that he came back to us. It is going to be hard, really hard, from here on out and we know this. We are so thankful for all the support.