Halloween

FYI: Jake was dressed as Thad Castle from Blue Mountain State when he fell down the stairs.

Now, on to the updates you’ve all been waiting for.

I just got back to the hospital and wanted to provide a recent update for what is going on. The night nurse is here. Her name is Kayleigh and she’s wonderful! I gave her a Heath Bar Cookie. She loved it!

Jake is still in a drug induced coma. He’s paralyzed with Nimbex. He’s sedated with Propofol. He’s draining CSF (cerebral spinal fluid). Yesterday his ICP ventric drain (the thing sticking out of his head) was left unclamped to keep the pressure off. Today it’s been clamped and they’re draining his ICP when it gets to the 20’s. Everything going on right now is expected according to the nurse. The nurse says he hasn’t thrown them any curve balls. He’s tolerating his body temperature much better. No goodsebumps or shivering right now, but earlier today there was some. They were doing thumb twitches yesterday and weren’t getting any response from him. The doctor says it’s OK that he’s not responding to the thumb twitches. When I say thumb twitches I’m referring to a machine attached to his wrist. The machine is called a peripheral nerve stimulator and it’s used to send an electrical signal to the nerves in his wrist which control his fingers. They use it check for responsiveness. The doctor was very pleased this morning about his ICP’s and the amount of drainage he was putting out because it all decreased. The nurse is giving him potassium and lactulose. The lactulose is to help him have a bowel movement. (TMI?) – It’s halloween G.O.I. (get over it).