The ups and down

Neal had the tube taken out around 1:45 today. The first five minutes he was fine. He was trying to cough stuff up and was suctioning it out. After about five minutes he was gasping for air. They started him on a breathing treatment and we were removed from the room. The nurse told us assume the ventilator will go back in. By 2:30 we were back in the room and Neal had the ventilator back in. He had actually requested the ventilator to be put back in. By 5:00 his vitals were good and he was ok. He has been through a lot, but is still pulling through. We are back to the drawing board to figure out what is wrong with his throat.

We are very thankful to our family and friends. All of our family is down with us. Suzy was kind enough to bring down enough food that I can not worry about that. I am very appreciative of that. More updates tomorrow, but we are not expected any major changes.

Update

Neal is getting his ventilator out as I write this. Let's hope this is the last time. All of his vitals are ok. His blood pressure is still low for him, but ok and his heart rate is still a little high. All blood pressure medicines will be held until his blood pressure is high again. They are also hoping to clear him so they can remove the neck brace. Hopefully he can sit up and watch the Buckeyes.

He is currently in isolation, which means you have to wear a gown and gloves when you are in his room. There is a slight chance he has c diff. It is a bacterial infection.

So far the doctors have been taking good care of Neal. We have been lucky enough to be there during rounds. We cannot ask all of our questions, however we can ask a few.

What a lonnnnnng 7 days

Neal was doing good this morning. He was on dialysis and trying to talk to us with his lips and hands. Unfortunately he needed to sit still, so we had to back off. His blood pressure was pretty low yesterday (60-70/30-40). Today it was 90/40 by the time we had left. They are working on getting that up and his heart rate down so that they can pull the ventilator. It sounds like the ventilator will be pulled by tomorrow.

Neurology is back to the drawing board. He was given compazine in the ER last Friday and they are wondering if that caused all of this. My sisters pharmacy friends are going to be put to work!


3pm update - The top number in Neal's blood pressure is holding above 100.

Enjoy the good days

My sister mentioned this and boy was it right. Neal was getting frustrated this evening because he could not communicate with us. How often we take for granted the fact that we can speak, or write, breathe on our own or drink a glass of water. I bought some different things tonight in hopes that Neal can more easily communicate. It is so frustrating and sad that we cannot communicate. His go to move is a thumbs up which is wonderful. After everything he is going through we are still getting a thumbs up from him. How amazing is that! I could never be as strong as he is. I wish I did not have to find out how strong he really was this way. Hopefully in a short time this will all be behind us and our next hospital visit will be for a kidney.

Thank you to everyone that has been helping out, I could not do this without you.

I was lucky enough to hold Connor Scott McHenry tonight. He is adorable and such a good baby already. Here is a picture.

Thursday morning update

My mom and I saw Neal this morning and he is doing pretty good. He is trying to talk and we are trying to get him to write. The ventilator will stay in a little longer to get his tongue swelling down.

Leslie's water broke last night, so hopefully soon we will have a baby!

UPDATE: It's a boy! Conner Scott McHenry. More updates as they come.

They believe Neal had a seizure and are getting him on some medicine.

Two steps forward and one step back

The day started out pretty well. Neal was told to put two fingers up and he did. He was responding to us pretty well. We saw the doctors during rounds and all tests are coming back negative. We are still waiting on a couple of neurological tests, however they are not anticipating any new results. At 10am, they decided to turn the ventilator off, although not yet pull the tube out and see how he was. He did well, so at 1pm, the ventilator was removed. Mom, Dave, Ed and I were all there for the visiting hour and he seemed pretty good. He was nodding his head, looking around, trying to talk and responding to commands . He even gave a thumbs up when he heard the Indians won the series. It did appear that he was lacking a short term memory. He was trying to reach to his face, which was of concern since he has a feeding tube and a tube to drain his stomach. Eventually we restrained him again. By the time we left, his oxygen was a little lower, but still ok and his blood pressure was going up. He even nodded yes when I asked if he felt short of breathe. Around 3:30, we received a call that they were putting him back on the ventilator. It turns out he has too much dried blood and mucus in the back of his throat that he cannot cough up and they cannot suction out. They used a scope and were surprised by the amount of stuff back there. He was sedated again and given pain medicine. He is pretty exhausted and slept most of our visits. He opened his eyes a couple of times, but was not doing it on command. The sedation will take a while to wear off.

As I reread this, especially the first two sentences I ask myself what the heck happened. He was the best he has been in a year and now this. Is there some sort of Nintendo wii virus going around? I thought we had seen it all, but unfortunately we did not. When Neal wakes up and reads my notes, he will probably not even believe it. Ryan and Leslie have been going to the 9pm visiting hour as I need some rest and I appreciate that. I appreciate all of the kind notes and help I have received. I was just telling my mom how lucky myself and Neal are to have great friends and family. I know if I needed something I have a long list of people to call and I appreciate those that I have already called upon.

Baby Steps

Neal was a little more responsive today with his eyes. We did not have to irritate him nearly as much to get him to open his eyes. He is still not responding on command with his arms and legs or focusing with his eyes, but he is moving when irritated. He had an EEG today but we do not have the results. He also had dialysis. Hopefully we will get some more response tomorrow. I started back to work today. I may be asking some favors to make sure someone is with him during every visiting hour in order to stimulate him as much as possible. Thanks to all those that have been helping so far. For those that have visited, I am no longer speaking so loud. I will update tomorrow.