Nice, Calm Days...we like 'em. :)

Thank you to everyone who had Scott in your thoughts last night. As of right now, today was a much calmer day. YAY!!! I think we got what we wanted and needed, which was to see some improvements and not see any more surprises or side-ways turns in his condition.

I got the run-down from Jen today (thank you Jen....you are all soooooo awesome!) and she said he is a lot calmer than he was when she had last seen him a couple days before. His ICP has stabilized and doesn't go up a whole lot when they move him. This is really good. His blood pressure is high, but this is what they want right now (remember vasospasms?). She said he didn't have any vasospasms today...yipee! Also, his heart rate had calmed down and he just looked more peaceful today. AND...they took his drain tube out of his head on Thursday, one less thing.

They did a surprise (well, surprise to us) bronchoscopy this morning but Diane said it was really fast and easy. It went real well and they didn't get a whole lot of stuff up from that. This is good as well. And, they were checking to see see if he had a clot in his lungs and he doesn't (really good). He's still on antibiotics and still has pneumonia, but doing better. They were able to back off his sedation a little more today and will continue to do so just as long as his vitals stay good with that.

Mom was in his room just a while ago and they were suctioning his throat out. When they do that, Scott starts to cough (as much as you can cough with a tube down your throat). Mom started to back out of the room (believe me, it's a little/LOT hard to watch) and was just standing at the entrance when the 'respiratory lady' (I really need to find the real job title for this person) said, 'Mom...come here. He's got his eyes open'. Mom got to see him like this for a tiny bit and tell him that everything was going to be ok. Diane has gotten to see him more like this but mom and I hadn't seen him really open his eyes since last weekend. Ahhh...feels better.

Also, nurse Jen was really funny today because she thought he actually rolled his eyes at her! Ha! She was moving him a bit and he was probably thinking, 'ok, lady. This sucks for me. I have no privacy. Just do what you need to do and let me go back to sleep'. At least Farmer and I like to think this is what was going on. :)

Oh, I just got off the phone with mom and she said that Erin (night nurse) came in and said to Scott, 'Scott, I'm going to check your pupils now'. He just opened his eyes, just like that, and let her do it (they've always had to lift his eyelid to do this). He also squeezed her hand and wiggled his right toes. His vitals didn't shoot up or anything. She turned to mom and put on this big grin and told her she really likes it when they start to turn around.

****Have I told you why they check his pupils? They are making sure that they react normally and that they are the same size. If they don't respond properly or are different sizes, this is the first indication that there is excessive pressure. This is one of the main reasons they knew they had to do surgery right away last week. His pupils were not the same size...not good. But, they're the same size now...nice. Also, this will tell them if something is wrong before the little ICP sensor in his head will tell them.

Speaking of the nurses, I haven't met all of them but of the ones I have met, I personally love them all. Paul, Heather, Erin, Kristia, and Jen...you are all so informative and most of all...you're calm. Your calm nature helps this family be able to relax (as much as we can) and truly take it one day at a time. Thank you for always answering our many, many questions without us feeling like a burden.

We are all learning from this experience. Learning not only medical terminology, brain issues, healing, recovery, but also that the cafeteria has the best $1.25 tacos I've ever had! I'm telling you, next time you're in Seattle and you need a bite to eat, swing by Swedish.

Day 10 Morning Update

He had a good night last. His nurse, Jen, said they gave him a 'sedation vacation' for about a half hour last night. This means they lowered his sedation long enough to get him to wiggle his right toes and squeeze their hand. She said the night nurse thought he even nodded to some questions she asked him. This is a good thing. His temp was down again and his ICP was good also. We're heading down there now and I will post later. Like I said last night, the goal today is to just take it easy and heal, heal, heal.

~Betsy

Day 9 Evening Update

Whew...sorry this is so late but we just got home from seeing Booger. I've got quite a list for you tonight. Here we go.

Good News

• His ICP has been low pretty much all day. Fluctuating between 5 and 8 mostly.
• His LP (lumbar puncture) results show NO MRSA or Staph!!! This is very good news for him. (Disclaimer: They have him on antibiotics and wanted to let us know that there is still a possibility and they will know for sure in a week or so....but, I kind of think they just want to tell us that just in case there's the very small chance he does have it. It's pretty important to not let us get our hopes up over anything....more of a hospital liability thing going on here.)
• He didn't have as many vasospasms today. They've been keeping his BP higher on purpose to help with the vasospasms and it's working. Basically, think of his blood vessels as a garden hose. Think about what happens when that garden hose has a kink in it or has something sitting on it, the water doesn't flow as easily. So, if they increase his blood pressure, it increase the blood flow to his brain and helps the vasospasms from happening.
• The doctors started alternating his Tylenol with Motrin. This was something they hesitated about because ibuprofen is not healthy for his kidneys...but his temperature really needed to go down. They took off his cooling devices since they were giving him the chills. When we left his temperature was at a normal level (maybe slightly high...but good). If his temperature stays down, he will heal much faster.
• His chest x-ray looked better. Still has pneumonia and they are treating that...but it is improving.

News we'd like to not hear as much

• He is still very sick. :(
• They most likely will not be able put his bone flap back on. Yes, you read that correctly. That means we're probably looking at a metal plate and he's going to beep like crazy at the airport now. Since they did find something on his flap (Ahem....MRSA), they can't put that back on. Can't risk that. We're obviously just finding this info out...so there will be more details later.
• The ventilator is becoming more of an issue now. They are not designed to be in this long and so we may be looking at a tracheotomy being placed next week. Again, I am just trying to give you as much info as I can and don't have all the details yet.

Overall, today was a better day. We're more positive after seeing him and talking to his nurses today. The goal for the weekend is pretty much the same... keep him calm so he can heal. I asked the nurse if any tests were planned for tomorrow and she didn't think any except the ultrasound to detect any vasospasms.

~Betsy

Day 9 Morning Update

CT and Lung scans are done. He had them done about 1 am, since he was doing good and there wasn't much else going on at the hospital that late at night. Sounds like those came back about the same as last time...not worse. I was hoping to hear that they were a ton better.

They took the cooling system off of him because his body was getting chills and that's not good for him. The doctor was going to look into alternating between Tylenol and Motrin for his fever. The only thing is that ibuprofen is not good for his kidneys, so that's another thing they have to take into consideration.

They are doing the ultrasound scan right now to detect how his vasospasms are doing. I will update on the results of that later.

The staph/MRSA is another thing we're trying to get answers about. Hopefully he doesn't have it and it's just the bone flap that does....then there's the question of how to treat the bone flap before putting it back on.

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record lately. Mom's on her way over right now with Coby and Cora. They'll be hanging at my house today with either my Aunt Pat or me...we may have to make some cookies. Yum!

~Betsy

specific need

I can't say how much I loved logging on & seeing the last post from Besty. Unfortunately I need a more specific & sooner prayer said. I don't know if you're like me & find it easier if you have a need in mind but here it is...He needs to be stable enough to get a head and chest CT. He has not had one in the last 2 days & a lot happened today. They need to know what's going on in his head & chest and to do that he has to be able to stay stable while lying down for the length of the tests. I just watched them lay him down for around a minute to move him & he was not stable. They have room to up the sedation and he only needs 5 minutes for the test. So once you read this help me pray or whatever to help him get these tests done sooner than later!
Diane

Please Join Us

I am sending a shout out to everyone you know.

Tomorrow night (Friday) at 8 - 8:05 pm (PST for you Easties). Please join us in either prayer, thoughts, good vibes, whatever you want. Let's get the powers together and have Scott on the agenda. What happens when you get hundreds of people together? I know there are a lot of people supporting our family from different beliefs, but please whatever you believe, please join and let's do whatever we can. We need a turning point in the right direction. We need Scott to have something significant happen. We miss him, We need him. We all play a different role in Scott's life. Wife, mother, sister, children, BFF, mentor, co-worker, friend. Please, have him in your mind tomorrow night at 8:00...I'm asking for only 5 minutes. What can it hurt?

~Betsy

Day 8 Evening Update

I still can't believe it's been over a week since all this started. Time is a blur right now.



Let's see if I can get all this info that is piled up in my head straight and typed out correctly.



Where do I begin? His ICP has stayed pretty low today, but Diane said she learned that the sensors that are in there are not designed to stay in this long...so, those #s could be off a little bit.



They found Staph and/or MRSA on his bone flap that they took off and want to do further tests on that to get more answers. The LP results take 24 - 48 hours, so once we get those back, we should know if his body has Staph or just the flap. If it's just the flap, well then, that's a whole other issue (umm...cross contamination anyone?).



They have him sedated for the night to make sure he is relaxed enough to have his chest and head scans in the morning. It's important that we get these since they haven't been done since Tuesday morning.



His temp is still an issue. They have a new machine that helps regulate it, Artic Sun they call it (or something like that). I guess they don't have to use it very much so when they do, it's a big deal. :(



Like I said, one step forward and 2-3500 steps to the side!

~Betsy

Day 8 Mid-day update

Just got back from the hospital. Here's a brief re-cap.

Good News:

• The LP went great! He tolerated sitting up (with the help of lots of nurses since he's obviously still sedated) long enough for this to happen. His ICP dropped dramatically as soon as they took some fluid out. Went from being in the high teens to being at a 5 when I left about an hour ago! That's great!! We won't know the results of the LP until tomorrow.
• He's been having vasospasms the past couple days and this was one of the reasons they really wanted the SPECT. But, today showed that the spasms had decreased, so they don't feel it's as urgent to get the SPECT. Since they can really only do one test per day (because that's all he's been able to handle), they will try and get another CT instead.

Not the Best News:

• His lab tests came back on the bone flap they took out. They found Staph on it, which is confusing because how did it get there? Did he have it prior to surgery or did it happen in surgery? Lots of answers still to come since they had just found this bit of info out right before I left. So, this means lot and lots of hand washing and 'gelling' (anti-bacterial gel they've got ALLLLL over the place). No eating in his room and no kids, since it is contagious.
• Also, we've got the issue of bed sores already. He doesn't have any yet...but the specialist noticed areas that look like they will become something. So, they want to switch his bed today to a bed that I believe moves air around to different areas to stimulate different areas of the body. This was just done around 2ish...went smoothly! YAY!
• His temperature is still an issue and that is being constantly monitored with a new cooling device.

My mind is becoming over whelmed with all the information and I find myself forgetting to ask questions that need to be asked. I keep telling people that when we have one step forward, it seems there's always another step in the direction that's not quite as forward...let's say off to the side. Sounds better than saying 'backwards'. :)

~Betsy

More coming later

I'm on my way down to the hospital this morning and will do an update in a little bit. He's having an LP (lumbar punture) today and I want to be there for that and hear what they say. At least we 'think' they are doing that. It's frustrating for everyone to hear they are going to do something and then they don't do it. Just one hour at a time, right?

~Betsy

clarification from last night

He does still have infections in his lungs. They are pumping antibiotics in him to treat the infections, there are a few different ones. What they are thinking is that the fever is not related to these infections.
Ops getting medical info is not always easy to explain later. Diane

Day 7 Evening Update

Here's a quick summary of today. They are still battling his temperature. The nurses have been putting cooling blankets under him because that seems to cool him off the best. These blankets consist of a grid of tubes that water just above freezing runs through. There is a big machine that looks like a portable A/C unit that runs the ice water through the tubes. The cooling blankets are not designed to be layed on, so his weight will stop the flow of water, then they aren't as cold after about 20 mins. But...they cool him off better if they get it really cold, then put them under him. They also will put one on top too. They don't think he has an infection anymore, they think that his 'thermometer' is just off because of the brain injury.

They know what is in his lungs now and they are treating him for it, so that's good.

His ICP has pretty much stayed in the high teens today. They did not do the SPECT today because once again, they didn't want to have him lay flat for that length of time. When he lays flat, his ICP goes up. I'm starting to sound like a broken record, huh?


~Betsy

Thank You's, Diane

I will randomly be adding to the blog. At this point I have an extreme amount of "stuff" in my head that I want to share & will probably forget most of it. So don't be surprised at the randomness of what I post. And even more so that I probably will forget many, many, many thank yous that I owe. (the following is in no order, I hope everyone knows that I)

My beautiful Mother-in-law! Thank you for being me the kids! I never wanted grandma to have to be me but I am so grateful you can keep their life as normal & be grandma while having through the weeks that are ahead for all of us. I you probably know but I will make sure to tell you, Scott is going to be so grateful that you were able to keep his kids happy, healthy & everything else you will be doing while he & I can not. He & I would have it no other way!!!! I want anyone following this to know that I will never be able to express the many wonderful emotions this has & will brings for us.

Wenatchee Trip: The most Argh 30 hours of my life! Anyone who saw me knows I only made it through that short period of time by thinking/doing one task at a time & by Caroline (my sister) helping me stay on task on step at a time...Thank you for flying so quickly to see us & for knowing you needed to stay longer for me & so much more! Thank you Betsy & Suz (Scott's sister & mine) for being Tara and me when we could not! We both want to stay close by Scott's side...Dang it I want to be in a chair next to him the whole time saying you can do it Honey! I want to cheer him on like I do in my classes but my voice changed from calming him down to making him want to get up a few days ago so I just stand moving his fingers & toes for him cheering in my mind. (ops random) Thank you to Jodi for being me for my house, car & classes and So Much More! Thank You to Everyone who has helped us there in Wenatchee. Everyone who I randomly got to see, talk to on the phone or whatever else. I could not have made it through leaving Scott's side any other way! Thank You mommy for getting me to Wenatchee. I know the Lord blessed the situation to have everything work out perfectly for each family member. Finally to Hillary for the amazing care package! I needed a way to keep my body healthy while here & she provided with yummy healthy snacks, drinks and of course weights/resistant tubing so I can get a little strength training in even at the hospital. I must say carrying the 30 lb basket up to my room and having a snack after was an experience after so many days of no exercise :) Oh yes & Aaron thank you for contributing to the basket, I know one thing that came form you super tasty toffee covered peanuts, right? Did I check those jars out for you back in the day when I worked the peanut window (sorry YMCA/work joke if you don't know. Days of working seem so long ago & yet it feel like this happened to Scott maybe 3 day ago)

I must thank Besty for this blog. WOW what a huge relief to know that anyone who wants to know how Scott is doing can find out when it works for them...and I don't have to try to get back to a missed call. What an extreme relief. When I find out how may people are following this I realize the extent of what she has done for me...it is over whelming to say the least!!!
I just read all the happenings here I was behind on. I love to read the comments after the posts. wow it's going to take Scott forever to read all the posts & comments when he's ready...yeah for that :) I'm blown away by the love & support we have received by so many people. I was telling Hillary yesterday that the "you find out who your friends are" phrase from some country song keeps going through my head. Yes to all those who have attended one of my cycling class, I listen to country music too. Shocking right? (see random) We have always known we have a close group of friends, but the support I have received and the willingness to serve from SO MANY helps me to realized that yes we have a close group but it is much larger than we ever knew! I'm not sure if any of you know how much this will mean to Scott when he wakes to find what I'm am learning each day here. I can't put it into words, but I know he will be.....Ah I can't explain it... AMAZED, UPLIFTED, STRENGTHENED BEYOND MEASURE!!!!
Please if you read and have a thought keep them coming, through posts or even the texts. I get them all even if I don't reply, they stregthen me beyond measure.
That's all for now. darn I don't have anyone to proof this hopefully it all makes sense. Diane:)

Just a little Humor

So, my Aunt Michelle and Uncle Glenn (my dad's brother who just had a successful kidney transplant last November) emailed me a fun little joke I thought I'd share, just to keep things on the lighter side...

As most of you know, Scott's always got a joke to tell you (just like our dad did, must be Cascade Auto Center's fault!) and I think he'd appreciate it! :)

Little Johnnie Joke

Little Johnnie's neighbor had a baby.
Unfortunately, the baby was born without ears.
When mother and new baby came home from the hospital,
Johnnie's family was invited to come over and see the baby.
Before they left the house, Little Johnnie's dad had a talk with them and explained that the baby had no ears.
His dad also told him that if he so much mentioned anything about the babie's missing ears or even mentioned the word ears, he would get the smacking of his life when they came back home. Little Johnnie told his dad he understood completely.

When Little Johnnie looked in the crib, he said, 'what a beautiful baby'.

The mother said, 'Why, thank you Johnnie'.

Johnnie said, 'He has beautiful little feet, and beautiful little hands, a cute little nose and beautiful eyes. Can he see alright?'

'Yes', the mother said, 'We are so thankful. The doctor said he will have 20/20 vision'.

'That's great', said little Johnnie, 'Cuz he'd be screwed if he needed glasses'.

~Betsy

Day 7 Morning Update

I just got off the phone with Diane and it sounds like Scott's temp was in the 99's pretty much all night, only spiking to 102 once. His ICP has stayed in the higher teens through most of the night. They still want to do the SPECT today but want to wait until his ICP is lower. She wasn't sure if he had a chest x-ray scheduled for today, I would assume he would have one to see how his Bronch went yesterday. Diane said she would try and do a post today, so stay tuned....

~Betsy

SPECT Scan Tomorrow

Just a quick update on what Scott's having done tomorrow. Click HERE to read more about the test. Pretty interesting, I think.

~Betsy

Day 6 Evening Update

It's time for an update, isn't it? The doctor did the Bronchoscope today and that went fine. Scott's numbers tolerated the procedure and it wasn't a very big deal. Things that are not big deals are great! After that, they did another CT scan but this time they did a CT angio. They wanted to look for an aneurysm again and they still didn't find one. Every day they do this ultrasound on his head that measures the flow of blood in his arteries and vessels. I left around 2:30, right after we got the results of his CT scan and they came back ok. I'll try to update a little more after Diane gets there and has a chance to catch up on things.

Once again, things are pretty much the same, probably a little better. :)

On a side note, I want to apologize to all the people that have left me either wonderful emails, texts, voicemails, etc...because I haven't replied back to all yet. I really appreciate them when I read them but most of the time something comes up and I tell myself that I'll reply later. Well, later means I sometimes forget. Please know that even if I don't respond, your comments and questions are ALWAYS welcome.

McDreamy

No offense to any surgeon here at Swedish that may read this (I'm saying this because the nurses know about this site and some have read it and who knows how much they talk) but I'm still waiting to see Dr. McDreamy! LOL!!!

Day 6 Morning Update

Just a quick positive note...he just had a chest x-ray and that looks a lot clearer! A good sign that the one of many things the nurses have done is working. Suctioning, changing some medications here, tweaking some more meds there. The neurosurgeons will be making rounds in about 15 mins.

~Betsy

Day 5 Evening Update

My last post from this morning talked about how he's got some fluid in his lungs. That has started to be a little more of a concern. They may go in tomorrow and do what's called a bronchoscope. This is where they will heavily sedate him and go down with a scope and clear some of that fluid out. They'll determine that after his chest x-ray in the morning. As of right now, he does not have a CT scan scheduled for tomorrow since they don't think it will show any significant changes. I think now they'll start doing them every other day. His temperature is still there...at 102 right now. The nurse (Heather) just put his cooling blanket on him to try and get that back down. As we keep being told, it's really just one day at a time and it will be a long road.

Right now, it's about keeping him calm, stable and letting the brain heal. There will be times of the day when his oxygen level drops, where he will start having small tremors, where his ICP (inter-crainal pressure) will go up, where his BP goes up. Everything is changing all the time and it really is a true waiting game.

They are going to probably just bath his front tonight so they don't have to move him too much. I'm going to call it a night and be up and ready for the neuro-surgeon's rounds in the morning.

~Betsy

Nurses

I just wanted to say that through all of this, the nurses here at Swedish have been wonderful (we have Jen today and we had Paul Friday, Saturday and Sunday). They are always up for answering our questions and rather than just give us a short answer, they will explain why things are the way they are. They never seem to be annoyed or anything.

Another thing about the nurses here...they pretty much run the show. The doctors come in and do rounds in the morning and that's about it. The nurses are the ones that are changing the doses and making decisions on what will bring down temps, pressure, etc. I had no clue that so much is in the hands of them. They also are never out of his room for more than 3-5 minutes. They are constantly checking him. Whether it's suctioning his mouth, moving him so he doesn't get sore, tweeking his sedatives, whatever it is, they are doing it. They are amazing....THANK YOU NURSES!!!!!!!!

~Betsy

Day 5 - Morning Update

Hmmm...let's see....I spent the night with Booger last night and all was pretty calm. They came in and bathed him around 2 am. Being his sister, I stayed back in my little corner and definitely didn't watch. LOL.

He's been pretty heavily sedated since yesterday so he didn't wake up at all during that. They brought in a portable CT machine (it's crazy how much equipment is around this place) and did another CT scan this morning, which show things as stable. They are going to increase his sodium to try and bring his brain swelling down some more. He had a chest x-ray also this morning, which does show some fluid/gunk in his lungs. This is sort of to be expected. Anytime there is a respirator in and he's not moving around, this can happen. He's not able to cough up normal stuff like we are. It is an issue that needs to be taken care of, but obviously the brain comes first. They don't want to suction it out because of the fragile state of his brain. Yes, it's a concern but they can't do too much for him right now.

As for his looks, the swelling under is eye is a lot better. It's not black anymore so in a weird way, it's easier to look at him. Or it's just easier because we're used to it.

I'm hanging with him all day today and again tonight. I think we're going to play some poker for a while, and no Booger, I'm not going to let you win just because you're sick.

~Betsy

Hey, Diane here:)

Alright so I can't say I'm pulled together enough to say that this will make a lot of sense but I really wanted to post something to all of those following our family's struggle.

I am over whelmed with the love, support and many prayers that have been poured our way. I guess you don't know how many people you have in your court until you have a major trial that causes you to ask for help. On that note, Friday night when I was finally settling into try and sleep after all of the super scary 'stuff', I had my brain clear & came to a lot of conclusions. One is that I have to ask for & accept help with anything that I have a need for. I am so grateful to all those I have asked for help & have accepted without hesitation. Know that if you haven't been asked yet just the prayers and support is help enough...but know that we have a long road to recovery, so there will be many more needs.

Now for Scott's condition: Well I must say today has been a series of ups and downs. On one side the response that Scott gives when he is quickly awakened is good. He responded as the doctors wants/expect, Yay good honey the brains working. On the other side, he is very annoyed with his situation and at times...more often than not until they started heavier sedation, he tries to get out of bed, this is a very scary thing to see to say the least. The bad part about this is that his brain needs to heal and that much movement spikes all kinds of numbers that we don't want spiked. He still has a temperature but they are managing it. The nurse says that it may be an infection (which they started tests on this morning) or just the fact that his brain's thermometer is off. It something they see often, elevated temp with no cause. He is pretty heavily sedated but we still need to have a no talking or touching rule because he is very sensitive to what is happening and Dang It he wants to be involved. YAY Honey! His personality still shows after all he's gone through!
Ok it has taken me like 2 hours to write this much. I will post more later....cuz I've actually got lots to say hehehehe....anyone who knows what happens to Diane at night when she's low on sleep, should get a kick out of knowing Crazy is here to help Scott get better. wow 3rd person typing she must be a little out of it :)

Morning Update

Good Morning. Again, I want to thank you for the continuous love and support from everyone. It really means the world to us to hear from his loved ones and know that he's in your thoughts and prayers.

Mom, Farmer, and I got down here about 8:00 this morning. He has a temperature and so they did another CT scan this morning. The CT scan did show that the swelling has decreased slightly. They are giving him Tylenol to try to bring his temp down and have ice packs under his arms, behind his head and then they may put a cooling blanket on him that runs ice water through it to help cool him off. The temp could be caused by an infection or meds. So, they switched his 'sleepy' med to something else that may make it harder to wake him up. They finally gave him a decent haircut...about time! Just kidding. :)

~Betsy