Another Great Day

Randy had another great day.

The physical therapist couldn't make it in today to test him for the rehab program because they had a lot of new patients from over the weekend that they had to get to first, but she said they would come tomorrow definitely. Randy wasn't that happy about it. He wanted them to come today. He is ready to go to the next step. He told us a few times that being in the hospital is a "waste of time". He also told us quite a few times that he doesn't feel like an invalid. He actually thought he was going to just stand right up by himself today when he had to go to the bathroom. Thankfully, we were all there to yell "NO!" at him and he waited for the nurse to assist him. He did put some weight on the his left leg and was able to stand for a short period of time and then he scooted his left leg over to the bed to get back in. It was amazing to watch!

He also brushed his teeth by himself and fed himself (though we have to remind him not to shove too much food in his mouth at a time and to take breaks in between bites). But he is doing amazing.

For those praying for Randy, there are 3 specific things he needs prayer for: 1. His eyes. 2. His Left Arm 3. Him dealing with this and having the strength to get through this

His eyes still aren't even and when he opens both of them, he says he is seeing cross-eyed. One of the nurses today said that she would get an eye doctor to look at them to see if it is something fixable, something that will go away over time, or something that they can't really do anything about.

For his arm, he is able to move it some and he is starting to move his fingers, but it has been hurting him. He is so frustrated that it isn't like his right arm. He was working it all day. He even asked for the ball we got him to start flexing. He is bound and determined to get that arm working.

Today, Randy's was really showing his emotions and talked a lot about the fear he is feeling. There was one point he had the three of us (him, his mom and me) crying. I gave him a pen and a piece of paper today and asked him to write his name. He did his signature three times and then started writing other things. The first two sentences he wrote make no sense. But then he wrote "I am tired of this. I want to feel normal" and " feeling empti/aloneness/tireeeddless". I think the last word was meant to be tiredness. He absolutely doesn't want to be alone right now and anytime I need to leave the room he says "Okay, but be right back". It must just be absolutely scary for him ~ I can't even imagine what he going through.

Another Amazing Day

I was a little worried that what we had yesterday would be gone today because it has been such an up and down road up to this point, but once Randy woke up today, he was just as with it as he was yesterday. It was so great. Being there today, I feel like I am getting to hang out with him because he is responsive and interactive. I love it.

One of the doctors on his team came in to see him today and he said he thought Randy was just about there for the full on acute rehab, meaning he gets to stay at Harborview and not have to go to the nursing facility. We would love that. Both he and the nurse said they would try to get the therapists in there tomorrow to test him to see if he is ready.

Today, they stood him up for the first time. He had to go to the bathroom and he refused to go in the diaper thing. I kept trying to do what I did yesterday and tell him he could just go and then tell me and I would get the nurse to clean him, but he was having none of it. So his nurse today got a comode and stood him up a bit to let him go. Randy was so happy. The nurse said Randy was not able to bear weight on his left leg, but he did okay other than that.

Randy had a few visitors today. He loved it! Even after people left, he kept saying how good it was to see them.

Tonight, I was at the hospital late. Randy just doesn't want to be left alone. I tried to wait until he fell asleep but he kept fighting it. Earlier in the night, then his night nurse came in to do her assesment, she asked Randy how he was doing and he said he felt connected today. Well, tonight when I asked him why he was not wanting to go to sleep he said he didn't want to lose the ability to connect. He said "I have some fears" but he wouldn't go beyond that. It was so hard to leave him.

Fabulous Day!

Look! No collar!!!! Randy was able to get the collar taken off today and he loves it being gone. Now we can even out his hair!

Today was so absolutely wonderful. I wish everyone could have been there today to enjoy in how responsive and lucid Randy was today. It was so absolutely amazing.

With the more alertness, though, comes more realization from him. He is able to know now when he is alone and he doesn't like it. When we walked in today, the first thing Randy said was "I am very thankful to see you two today" Throughout the day he would ask us not to leave him. He also kept saying "Don't lose me". I wonder if the lost thing comes from a conversation I had with him just a couple of days ago ~ when it was just he and I, I told him I was so scared I was going to lose him the first few days he was there. He was very clear, though, on us not wanting to leave him alone. In fact, he said "I don't want to be alone. I want to be a pain in the butt". His mom tried to clarify, asking if he meant he did NOT want to be a pain, but he was insistent, he did want to be a pain in the butt. We laughed and he kind of laughed with us then said "I'm not joking". Tonight, I kept trying to explain to him that we would stay with him until he fell asleep and then we would leave, come home and get some rest, and come back first thing in the morning. He was fine with that until he as getting very sleepy. Then when I told him that we were leaving when he fell asleep, he said "We'll see about that". It made it very hard to leave, but his room is really too small now to have someone sleep in it.

Randy also said today "I really want to be home. I want it soon". Then another time, he said he wanted to come home and play with Cass and the rats (he calls our 3 dogs "the rats" because of how small they are). At one point, I showed him a picture of our dog Daisy, and I asked him what her name was. He couldn't think of it so he finally gave up and said "The rat".

He had several times today that he couldn't think of the words he wanted to us, but he tried really hard to verbalize whatever point he was getting at. If he just couldn't come up with it though, he used the word "spot" in its place. It made things very confusing at times.

Throughout the day, I tried to quiz on him a couple of things ~ to point to where the calendar in his room is and to tell us what his nurse's name was. Once, when I asked him the latter question, his response was "Rachel and Marsha". That is, in so many ways, the truth ~ we have been his nurses, working right along with whoever is assigned to him. Randy also said a few times today that he was thankful we were there to ask so many questions ~ and he would say this right after we were asking questions to the nurse on different things such as medications, getting the neck brace off, the list goes on...

Randy was amazingly polite today. He has always been a very polite person. All throughout today, he was telling his mom and I how thankful he was for us being there and he would tell the nurses how thank you whenever they would do something for him. Also, when his mom and I took him outside for a bit today, he wanted to know if we were comfortable and offered us his sheet. Then, when I was feeding him lunch and dinner today, he wanted to share with others. We kept having to tell him this was his food and he needed it to get better.

Randy and I started going to church together about a month before the accident. This morning, he out of the blue told us that he dreamt about the church and he said "I want to be involved in the church more. I think the pastor can help with that". It really amazed me.

Something funny that he said: I was hugging him and he licked my hair and I asked him why he did it. He said "It was available". A little later, he licked him hair again and I said "don't lick my hair". He responded "No promise about that!"

A couple of medical updates: He is able to swallow pills now, which is great. It shows a lot of improvement in his eating/swallowing ability. He also got his stitches out today, except for the one the doctor missed that we found later. One negative thing ~ they had to put the catheter back in. Randy is able to tell us when he has the need to go to the bathroom, but he wasn't able to go. They are going to have urology take a look at him on Monday.

Another great thing about today was that we were able to hang out with Randy and not have any of the restraints on except the waist one to make sure he doesn't try to climb out of bed. The down side of that, of course, means that with no restraints, Randy will need to be moving on from that floor. Our hope is that he remains this lucid and doesn't slip back any so that he can test well enough to be accepted in the full on acute rehab that Harborview has. If not, we will be hopefully going to the place we selected in Tukwilla (I haven't checked bed availability recently). If they do transfer him, though, I will post as quickly as I can to let everyone know where is at.

Until then, we are hoping that tomorrow will be another lucid today, so we encourage any that have the time to come see Randy. He is infection free and no longer contagious with anything. We just ask that his visitors are healthy to make sure he stays that way! He loved it when his Aunt and Uncle showed up today. He loves visiting with people.

Okay, this post is long enough. I could go on with more because today was just so absolutely amazing, but I need rest so I can get there early tomorrow!

We had an amazing day

I felt like we really saw a miracle today in the changes that we saw in Randy.

The morning was a little tough. As I said in the previous post, Randy started out agitated today. He was agitated we wouldn't get him up to use the bathroom. He kept asking us and we kept trying to explain to him that he couldn't get up and needed to go right where he was at. He saw the sign on the bathroom door and said he wanted to where "Call Don't Fall" is (which is the sign on the door). At one point, he said "I want to get up." and we said "The doctors's say no", and he responded "Well, they need to say yes".

We finally got him to go ahead and go where he was at and from that point on, it stopped being as much of an issue. There were a few times he did ask to go and I would explain to him again that he goes where he was at, tells me when he is done, and I call the nurse to come clean him up, and he seemed to understand that and follow the process. I think it is just absolutely amazing he was able to tell me when he needed to go and when he was finished.

Another irritation for him today was the temp in the room. As I stated earlier, we tried turning the temperation down and that really helped. The thermostat in his new room was higher than his last room. At one point, someone asked him how he was doing and he was starting toodo better and then he went on to explain that the last couple of days he wasn't feeling too good after the transfer (I think by transfer, he is referring to moving rooms, but I don't know for sure). It just amazed me he was able to put that thought together and communicate it.

Another big irritation for Randy is still his neck brace. When we walked in today, he had gotten himself out of it. According to the nurse, she had just put it on a few minutes earlier. He was able to take it off even beeing fully restrained.The nurse told the doctor that Randy had been taking if off several times so the doctor put in a request to up Randy's dosage of bromocriptine, which is used for storming/agitation. I wasn't in the room when the doctor told the family what he was doing and explaining why, so when I came back I said I wanted to talk to him. In the meantime, I went down and researched the drug and one side-affect is loss of alertness, the exact opposite of what I want for Randy. Also while I was out of the room today, the restraint specialist came in and said she wanted to up Randy's dose of Seroquell, which is the medication we just argued to get taken down.

We found out last night, though, that the plan is to move Randy into a room right by the nurses station and remove his restraints to see how he does, even though all of the nurses that have worked with Randy have said that he is not ready. I find it funny that the restraint specialist recommends highering medications so that we can take off the restraints. When the doctor came back to talk to me about the bromocriptine, I told him I am not okay with any of Randy's medications being upped, period. I suggested spreading out his nighttime medications so that they would last longer throughout the night, but no increases. He was concerned about Randy getting the neckbrace off. Randy has only gotten the neckbrace off when we are in the room during times he conned someone in the room into taking off restraints. During the nighttime is the only concern because we are not there. I will be there every night to watch him and make sure he doesn't take it off before I let him increase his medications. The doctor put a note on Randy's file stating that the family doesn't want any medications increased.

Throughout the day, Randy expressed that he did not want to be alone. When his mom or I would tell him we were going to step out for a bit (ususally when they were changing him or moving him to/from his chair), he would say "Not to long" or, once, he said "Don't go to far for too long". He really wanted us there in the room with him today.

They took Randy's catheter out again today (they have tried several time without success to keep it off). It was funny, right after they took it out, he went to the bathroom and he laughed and said "That felt weird".

At one point during the day, Randy said "I want to believe that I'm getting better". That says to me that he feeling the frustration, but he isn't giving up. I saw him work so hard today.

Once we worked past the frustrations, which really just took us repeating the resolution he could have for what he wanted, it opened up into a very great day. Randy's mom was asking him if he remember that he was in band back in school. I asked him if he remember what instrument he played and he answered correctly ~ the flute (he and I were actually in band together, both playing the flute. That is where things first got started with us).

Randy seemed to me to be getting bored today. He was so with it but didn't have anything to do. I took out one of the games that was given to us in a care package. I don't even know how to play the game, but it has cards with words on them. I started flashing the cards at him and he started reading the words. He did an amazing job. He did struggle with some words, but I could tell in his mind that he was working them out. There were a couple of times I asked if he wanted help. The first time he said yes and I sounded out the word with him. The second time, he said no and I saw his eyes really concentrating and he finally got the word. He got small words like "art" and he did excellent with long words like "encyclodpedia". This game entertained him for awhile and I feel like we were doing something positive for him. I think it was very good for him. Someone we spoke with this evening from the church I attend has a son who was in Harborview 2 years ago with a head injury. It was great talking to her and hearing about some of their experiences. She said she had some flashcards she will give us and we stopped and picked up some to start working with tomorrow if he is alert enough.

It was just so great. I think it all wore him out too. He was too sleepy tonight to eat very much dinner. Oh, which is another bit of amazing news. Randy was approved for any foods he wants. He has passed all of the swallow tests (Yeah!). He wasn't seeming to like what was brought for him to eat so they gave us vouchers and I was able to go downstairs and pick out things I thought he would like up to a certain dollar amount. That seemed to work quite well for him. He even like the dinner, but couldn't keep his eyes open enough to eat very much. At one point, I asked him if he could open his eyes and he responded "No, but I like your question."I got him to eat a bit of everything and he did stay awake enough for vanilla ice cream, which is a favorite of his, but then when I snuggled up next to him to watch a bit of tv, he crashed out.

Today started out a bit rough, but it turned out to be such a great day!

Small Update

Randy is very "with it" today. He was able to tell the nurse where he was at. I have tried to get him to say it a few times, and he hasn't yet. He called me by my name to get my attention (of course, it was to try to get the glove off his hand!). But he is very agitated today. He is still saying he is very hot. We turned down the temp in his room to see if that helps. He is also very upset because he knows he needs to go to the bathroom and we won't let him up. The nurse gave him something to make him go and he was not too happy with that, but he finally gave in. As soon as he was done, though, he said "yucky, can you call". So he has been very aware of things today, but with that awareness comes frustration.

At one point he said "I am not having fun at all." Another time, I told him I was going to step out while he took a bath. The nurse then said it would be a few minutes because she had to go grab someone to help and when she stepped out he asked me not to leave and he said "I don't want to be alone".

So the alertness is good, but the awareness of things has been hard for him this morning and very hard for us to watch and deal with.

Today was not such a good day

I went to work this morning and mid-morning, I talked to Randy over the phone. He seemed pretty alert to me. Maybe not quite as alert as yesterday, but he was responding pretty well. His mom had told me they had just cleaned him up so I asked him if he had a bath. He answered no. So I asked if he was sure that he did not just have a bath. He again said he hadn't. I told him that his mom had just told me that they cleaned him up and he responded "Yup, they cleaned me up good". I guess he doesn't consider that a bath! I then asked him if he had breakfast yes and he told me he had. When I asked him what he had, he told me he couldn't remember but he would go get the maitre de. Then, as conversation came to an end and I needed to go back into the building, he said "Here Mom". So he was very aware of things being said and pretty alert.

I stayed at work for a full day and then headed to the hospital. When I got there, he was still pretty alert but he seemed liked he was getting tired, so not responding quite as well as earlier, but still responding. His mom had said he hadn't taken a nap all day so he was due a nap. We left him a little after I got there so that we could go to a meeting. We were gone about an hour and when we got back, he was sound asleep.

While he was asleep, his friend Jon called to see if Randy was alert so he could come visit him. I told him the little I knew of the day from not being there ~ Randy seemed pretty alert to me, but was currently sleeping. When Randy woke up from the nap, though, he was completely different. He was off in his own little world, pretty unresponsive to questions. A lot of the things he was saying wasn't jiving together anywhere near what it was earlier. He kept saying he was hot (which his mom did say he had said throughout the day) and he very upset. He was asking all of us to take the glove off of his hand.

He did have the realization that Jon was there because he kept calling him by name and telling him stuff, the stuff just didn't make sense. Then Randy's dinner came and he refused to eat. He kept telling us that he felt yucky but couldn't tell us where or exactly how. Then his left knee got very hot and turned very red and hurt to the touch. The charge nurse looked at it and has scheduled him to be looked at by orthopedics tomorrow. But awhile after she looked at it, the redness disappeared. Even after the reddness in the knee went away, he kept telling us he didn't feel good.

It was so hard to see him like that. The times we have had setbacks has been due to infections and today really felt like a setback. It is so frustrating that he can't tell us what is wrong or why he feels yucky.

I won't be going into work tomorrow unless when I get there early in the morning he is back to his perky self.

Today was fabulous

We had a wonderful day. Randy was alert for most of the day and it was so great to get to hang out with him.

When we first got there, the physical therapists were working with him to test out his eligibility for the acute rehab (the full on rehab that they have in the hospital). They said he did pretty well but he isn't quite to the point that he can be successful in the rehab. I think he is pretty close.

Today, when they got Randy up into his chair, I asked if we could take him outside since he isn't attached to tubes anymore. Thankfully his dad walked in just in time ~ I don't know if I could have manuevered that thing out the door! The first picture is Randy incognito. Since he hadn't been outside for over a month, we made sure he had sunglasses and a hat to hide him abit from the sun. While we were out there, I asked him if he knew where he was and he said "downtown" and then he struggled a bit with what he wanted to say. He got frustrated and said "whatever". I said "It's okay, you are downtown where?" and he finally came up with "Seattle". I tried to get him to say the word hospital, but up to this point, he has refused. So, instead, I asked him to say "Harborview" and he did. He then went on to say "3 West unit" which is the unit he is in. I hadn't said anything about 3 west so we only could have gotten that from previous conversations or hearing over the intercom in his room.


When we got outside, we took him over by the helicopter. It is behind a fence because people aren't allowed back there. The pilot came out and he offered to take Randy back there. It was so great. Randy tried to ask him a question, but people kept talking over him and he kept getting frustrated, so finally we let him ask. It took him a but to get the question out and we didn't fully understand the question, but he really tried. The pilot was really nice. Randy loved it.

When we got back into the room, a previous coworker, Dona, was in the room. Randy recognized her and was able to communicate that he had worked with her until he had moved on to another job. His sentences aren't quite completely coherent, but he can generally get enough right words that you can make out what he is saying.

Today, Randy was moved to solid foods. I was feeding him, but at that point, we had a lot of people in the room. I got side tracked with a conversation with someone and he kept hitting me to get me to feed him the soup ~ that was all he really liked from the lunch menu. When he eats, we have to make sure he swallows it and doesn't just keep it in his cheek to choke on later. I wasn't sure he had swallowed some bread I had given him and when I asked him if he had swallowed he said yes, so to make sure I asked him to open his mouth and say "Ah". Instead he kind of spit a bit of the food out then started chewing the rest of it. As his spit it out, he laughed.

We left a little after 1 to celebrate Cass's birthday. We had our friend Kelli come sit with Randy to make sure he had entertainment and someone there to watch over him. I think she had a good time with him because he was interactive. She asked him if he could tell her what her husbands name and it got it right ~ he said Jon. He also spelled Kelli's name for her. When she asked him where he lived, he gave our home address - not just the city, but the address.

I guess the room that Randy in is quite a bit smaller than the one we have been in (I haven't seen it yet), but I am thinking it is a good thing. He can see more things around the room because they are closer to him. He can also see outside of the hall. Since he is on the very end, he might not see too many people, but I guess at one point tonight, a girl was out there, probably looking for someone, and Randy saw her and said "Hey girl". He then told our friend he wanted to look out in the hall. Kelli told him there was no one there and he said "there was". Also, the nurse asked Kelli how long she had known Randy and Randy answered "5 years", which is correct.

Randy also expressed a couple of times today that he wanted to go to the bathroom and he didn't want to do it sitting down. I think that is great!

One thing I forgot to post yesterday, most of yesterday and throughout the day, Randy was talking all work. At one point, the way in which he was talking made me ask him if he was doing a presentation and he said "yes". I don't know what he was presenting, but he was doing a great job.

Well, I am exhausted. Anything I have left out I will try to get in later.

New Room

Quick update ~ Randy was moved into room 364. It is still a private room, but they needed the big room for an epilepsy patient, which is what the big room was designed for.

I will post more later ~ we are on our way to celebrate Cass's birthday.

Another Great Day!

We had another wonderful day today!

I went to work again today and it still was very hard to be away, but I know I need to do it ~ even though I get 12 weeks off from work, I only get paid for as much vacation and sick time I have and once that runs out, the rest will be unpaid. So I am trying to get in as much as I can.

Randy's mom and sister, and our dauther Cassandra went in to hang out with him this morning. When they got there, he was sitting out in the hall in his chair. One of the doctors and one of the nurses told us later that Randy had tried to talk them into getting his glove off. They said he asked so nicely! When I got in, he tried to ask me to take it off, but I wouldn't. He just sighed and said "You're not too helpful".

Randy was very polite throughout the day. He said "Thank you" to everyone, when he burped he said "excuse me" and when he elbowed me and I said "ow" he said "sorry".

We tried to ask him questions throughout the day to keep his mind working. I ask him regularly what his name is. Today, I started asking him to spell his name. The first time, I asked "How do you spell that" and he responded with "With a Y". And I asked "Do you spell that with an R?" and he said "Only when necessary". Later, I tried again and asked him to spell Randy. He looked so puzzled, so I started out for him. I said "R" and he quickly said "a", but then he paused again so I said "N" and he quickly said "D" and I finished with the "Y".

His mom asked him how many cats we have and he responded correctly ~ we have two. She asked what he calls him or what their names were and he responded "I don't know what you consider them". She also asked him how many dogs we have, but he didn't answer that one (we have 3 and they tend to drive him crazy!).

I asked him some of the questions I heard the speech therapist ask. One was "Do you cut grass with a spoon". When the therapist asked yesterday, he responded "yes", but today he said "No, not with a spoon".

I also asked him "Y equals m x plus what" and he responded "b". (that would be algebra equation that he went over with my daughter a year or so ago when he was doing homework and she was curious about it).

Also, tonight when I was feeding him, I gave him some coffee and after he tried some I asked if it was gross. He responded "Not completely gross".

Then, a little before we left, I wrote down one of our dogs names on a piece of paper and asked him to read it and he did. We then decided to test it again, so we wrote the name of my daughter's hamster on the other side and he read that too!

It is so great!

Today was amazing!

I had too many good pictures to choose from today!

The day started out a bit rough for me. I went to work today. I made it one hour before I cried ~ I came across an email Randy had sent me the afternoon of the accident. It sucked being there away from him, but I will be going back tomorrow. Hopefully it will get easier!

When his mom and sister arrived at the hospital this morning, Randy was sleeping. I went there straight after work and by the time I got there, he was awake and the speech therapist was working with him. Before I got into the speech therapist stuff, I wanted to explain the first picture. This picture is off Randy talking on the phone to his dad. I let his hand out of the infamous glove and he held the phone. He did let go of it a few times to use his hand to readjust his left leg that he was crossing over onto his right leg and it kept slipping. It was just so great to watch him hold it!


Now back to the speech therapist. I missed the part where she tested his swallowing reflex, but he passed! She gave him ice chips, water from a straw, and applesauce and he did quite well with all of it. So, Randy has been approved for a puree diet. This second picture is of him eating dinner. They gave him quite a few choices to eat, the main being mashed potatoes, some stuff they said was turkey, and some stuff they said was corn. We gave him mainly the mashed potatoes and some milk. He did very well with it. We were told by the nurse not to over stimulate him while he was eating, but we were all so excited, so he got a little over stimulated. But he was able to tell us when he was full. He didn't eat a whole lot. But it is so exciting.

I did get into the room in time to get to see the speech therapists second half of her examination ~ the question part. She asked all but one of us to leave the room so he wouldn't be too distracted. I stayed in there. As she was asking him his name, though, he kept saying my name and as I walked to sit down, his eyes followed me and he continued to say my name. So I had to hide out of his line of sight. She asked him questions about his name. At first, he didn't answer correctly, but when she finally got his full attention, he did finally answer right. She then asked him if he lived in Chicago and he said no, and then asked him if he lived in Washington and he said yes. She then wrote two names on a piece of paper, one being his. Without saying either of the names, she asked him which name was his. Instead of answering her question, he said "Peter" which was the first name she had written down ~ he read the name off the paper!!!! Then she wrote down the words "pen" and "key" on another piece of paper and asked him what the first word was. He said "key" which was actually the second word on the paper, but he said it!

Later in the day, his mother was walking by the bed and he reached out and said "Hey Mom, can you get me to..." and then didn't finish his sentence. Then a little later, his mom was reading things that people had signed in the guest book. She mentioned to him that his Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Bill, and Andrew had visited him and he said "I was happy to see them". And then his mom saw the comment from Ken Langner and she asked Randy "Is that your boss". Randy responded with "That's my manager's manager." I don't know if that is accurate or not because I don't know the chain of command, but him just processing that was amazing! He also had a coworker, Sandi, visit him. She asked him if he knew her name. He said her last name. It was so amazing.

One last update ~ our amazing nurse, Becky, knew we had concerns with Randy's medication Seroquel, so she got the pharmacist to come in and talk to us about it. We discussed changing Randy's dosage from 4 25 mgs to 3 doses, 2 being 25 mgs and 1 being 50 to help him through the night. I like this idea. That would give him more alert time during the day and more restful time during the night. They are also lowering his blood pressure medicine and the medicine that helps with storming and impulsive movements, which means his body is really healing!

Today was great.

Today

Randy wasn't quite as alert as he was yesterday, but it was still a good day. I missed the morning with him because I went to church. It was hard to be away from him, but I am really glad I went. The paster asked people to give me music they thought would be good for healing, so I got some music to play for him. I also met a couple who have been through this with their son ~ he was in a car accident a couple of years ago. They said he went through some of the same things that Randy is going through, such as the spitting. They have also had experiences with nursing facilities. I look forward to talking to them some more to get the information they have acquired over the last couple of years.

Randy wasn't quite as responsive today as he was yesterday, but he did have his moments. When his friend Brandon was leaving today, Randy was able to say "Brandon" when asked who he was. Later in the evening when it was just he and I, I played a cd I made for him. One of the songs is Grandaddy's "The Nature Anthem". I am sure you have heard it on some commercial. The song just repeats the same lyrics over and over: "I wanna walk up the side of the mountain. I wanna walk down the other side of the mountain. I wanna swim in the river and lie in the sun. I wanna try to be nice to everyone". I leaned down and was singing it into his ear (very quietly because I don't sing on key and didn't want anyone else to hear!) and after a couple of times of the repeat, I asked him to sing with me and he did. He kind of hummed the tune at first, and then he sang along with the last line, but he got a little ahead with the lyrics and he said "everybody" instead of "everyone". But the fact that he was singing and was getting the lyrics almost right before they were sung on the cd just completely amazed me. It was so great.

We had a great day!

Randy's dad came from Yakima today. This is a picture of him reading to Randy.

Today was such a huge change from yesterday. They changed the dosage on the meds from 50 mg 3 times a day to 25 mg 4 times a day to spread things out more throughout the day. Today, however, he was so alert and so responsive that we asked that he not get his noon dose. If you are not one that reads comments, you should take the time to read the comment from Doug on the previous post. He visited Randy today and got to see how great he was doing.

Throughout the day, I wrote down various things that he said. This morning, when we were telling him what we were going to do for Cass's Birthday next Wednesday, he said "That sounds fun". Then, his mom was telling him that Cass was starting a collection of turtle bobble heads and said "Good for her". He said his name, my name, and Cass's name throughout the day. We told him that he was going really good, and he responded "We really are blessed". When I was talking about getting him evaluated to see if we could get him some water, he said "That's the evil plan". Before his dad got here, he was talking to him on the phone and he told Randy that it was 107 degrees in Yakima ~ Randy said "107, that's crappy". Then, later in the day, he has a cast thing that goes on his right foot. He is suppose to rotate wearing it for 2 hours and then having it off for 2 hours ~ it is removable. He got it stuck between the mattress and the thing on the side of the bed that holds him in. I had to unwrap the cast thing and get it off of him to get his leg out. When I finally got it out, he said "Thanks guys".

I think the best thing that he said today, though, was, his dad was telling his nurse a story about when he took Randy hunting many years ago ~ as they were leaving, Randy saw a buck, but he couldn't think of the word to tell his dad, so he said "Dad, there's a horny one". After Randy's dad told the nurse the story, Randy did an all out laugh ~ not the little chuckles we have occassionally hear. It was an all out laugh! And then he repeated "A horny one"! It was great.

Today was just amazing. He was there, responding, interacting, sounding like himself. And he moved his left arm. He moved it only a few times throughout the day and it was just a little bit, but it moved! He tried to use it to get the glove off of the other hand, but he couldn't quite get his fingers to work. It was just so good to see it move.

Today was just a great day!

Another frustrating day

As far as the infection went, Randy seemed to be doing much better by the end of the evening. Our frustration today was with the dosage of medications he is receiving.

Today, I got to the hospital a little later than normal, so they had already given him the 50 mg of Seroquel. He was completely out and his blood pressure and pulse were rather low. They weren't alarmingly low, but "need to be watched" low. The medication was given at 9 am. By 1:30, the Physicians Assistant was trying to wake him up ~ he had to shake Randy a bit to rouse him to get him to start waking up. Throughout the day, we voiced our concerns over the dosage of the medication. Our nurse talked to the doctor about it, but the doctor just said they would take a look at it. The nurse could tell I was very concerned and since the doctor wasn't that responsive, he had the Physicians Assistant come in, talk to me, and check out Randy. The PA came in a few times and asked me what I have been observing of Randy's reaction to the medication. But even with all of that, the dosage was not changed throughout the day.

When Randy finally did wake up, he seemed pretty alert, especially a little later in the evening when he was fully awake. Today, he asked for his pants. He said he wanted to change and he wanted to go. He talked to his dad for awhile and was able to respond appropriately to the things that his dad was saying. Then, when Cass came back from the beach (thank you Ms Bev for taking her away this week!), we her on the phone with Randy. She said hi and he responded with "Hi kido", which is what he calls her. I also heard him ask her what the best part was, which is so something he would say. A little later, when I asked him his name he said it very clear. When I asked him my name, he answered correctly (which is definitely a plus for him!). It was so nice to get to talk to him. Then they came in with his 5 pm medicine. We voiced our opinion that he didn't need it because he wasn't agitated. The nurse let us know he had talked to the doctor but they had just responded that they were looking into it and they hadn't changed the medication. I knew the doctors were on rounds at that time, so we could not speak to one of them. Less than 2 minutes after the medicine was given, Randy went to sleep. It was so hard. He was there, alert and talking to us, and because of the medication, it was gone.

When the night nurse came on, I again voiced my concern over the medication, mentioning that I had noticied a drop in blood pressure after it was taken. Though the nurses seem to be of the opinion that the drop in blood pressure is not related, I really think it was. She was great, though. She said that when the doctors came back after rounds to talk about the patients, she will talk to them about the medications and mention all we told her, which was that we felt he really needed the higher dosage yesterday and the day before because of the agitation, but that today he really didn't need it, and we felt the blood pressure lowering was related to the medication. She told us that she is going to hold his last dosage and note that it was per family request, so he will not get it tonight. I plan on getting to the hospital first thing tomorrow morning and requesting to talk to the doctor.

I also did some research on the drug they are giving him and I didn't care too much for what I found. The lowering of the blood pressure can be a side affect. In 2004, there was also a class action lawsuit because the drug has been linked to causing diabetes. Randy's biological grandfather had diabetes, so he might already have a risk factor from genetics, he doesn't need the added risk of it from drugs. I wrote down all of my findings to go over with the doctor tomorrow. At the very least, I want a lower dosage of whatever drug they use. I understand giving him the medication when he is agitated because his agitation can cause swelling in the brain and we don't want that. But I don't want him to be so sedated that he can't show us the progress he is making every day.

I am again reminded of all of the people that don't have family members there to be advocates for them to push the doctor's for answers and question the things they have done or aren't doing. My heart really goes out to those people. There are nurses out there, like our Becky, who I know fights for her patients and will push the doctors and get things done, but there are nurses who go in, do what is on their little sheet and then move on to the next person. Everyone needs someone there! Randy is lucky to have a whole group of people ~ us there at the hospital and all of you reading this blog who have stepped up and helped us by researching things, contacting people you know at the hospital, and giving us advice from personal experiences.

Frustrating Day

Randy has another infection. It is the same type that he had previously. Last night he started running fever. He was so uncomfortable throughout the day today. Anytime he would be a mess, he would get agitated and he was a mess a good part of the day because of the virus. They ended up putting a tube in to help contain the mess and that seemed to really help his agitation ~ that and the drugs they were giving him. By the evening, he was sleeping pretty good. When the nurse turned him, he woke up and talked a bit, but then he went right back to sleep.

That is really the only updates for today. It is just very frustrating that he is having to deal with this again. They did start the antibiotic for it today. For the next few days, anyone that visits just needs to make sure to wash their hands thoroughly upon entering and leaving the room (which is generally a good idea anyway).

A very tiring day

When we first got to the hospital, Randy was nicely asleep. Then they took off his cast and that was it for the resting today.

He spent the day being upset that he was restrained. He kept asking us to take the hand restraint off. Last night, he actually got out of it enough that he pulled his feeding tube stuff down ~ not the side of it that is inserted into his stomach, but the other side, the side with the actual food. Here in the picture, you can see what he spends most of his day doing ~ trying to take the glove off. During that times that his glove was off, we had to have someone at his hand because he can turn his body enough to reach just about anything he wants. We ended up having to put a different type of restraint on him and we had to restrain opposite hand and leg (right hand and left leg) to keep him safe. At one point today, the nurse gave him the oxy stuff and it calmed him for a few minutes and then he was at it again. He was so frustrated. I asked him how he was doing today and he responded "crappy". When I asked him why he mumbled something about wanting "this" off and he tugged on his hand restraint. He asked his mom to take it off at one point during the day and when she wouldn't he said very clearly "Could you please leave". Another time, after struggling for awhile to try to get the arm restraint off, he said "I wish this could be easier".

One of his favorite words currently is "shush". He seems to say it quite often to his mother and I. He has even said it in full sentence ~ "I wish you would shush".

Because he is so agitated, they are upping his relaxation medicine. They upped the dosage yesterday and today, the nurse kept telling the doctor that something more was needed. The doctor kept not really responding to her, so she made him come into the room and view how agitated Randy was even after the oxy stuff. So, they will give him the medication three times a day instead of just two. We will watch it closely the next day or so to make sure that it isn't making him sleep the whole time. We want him to have awake moments so he can continue to work on coming back to us and show us what progress he is making, but we don't want him to overly frustrated either.

During one point today, a little bit after the oxy and when it was just he and I in the room, I started asking him questions. He was able to tell me his name, my name, and when I asked him what his daughter's name was, he said Cass, which is what he and I call her. I asked him what year it was and he answered 2006, but then when I asked him how old he was, he said 27.

One bit of good news, Randy's white count is normal. It has been high for so long with the injury and then there were a few days it was too low and they ran a bunch of tests to see what was causing that, but all tests came out with negative results and his white count returned to normal.

Tonight, since they had given Randy more of the relaxation medicine, we took and early night and unfortunately missed Doug's visit. But, as you can see by his comment, he got to meet Becky, our favorite nurse (though Tim is definitely one of our top people as well). Becky has just been absolutely amazing to us and has provided Randy with such great care. She does so much for us and for Randy. She even spoke up very loud and clear when the restraint specialist came to visit Randy today. She made sure to speak out on everything he has done even while restrained. The restraint specialist decided it was best to keep Randy restrained for awhile.

I think that is it for updates tonight.

The rest of today

The remainder of our day wasn't much different than our morning. Randy woke up for a bit, but he was very aggitated and when asked if he was in pain he said yes, so we asked for pain medication. When the pain medication started working and Randy wasn't as aggitated, I asked him what year it was and he answered 2006. But that was all we got out of him before he drifted back to sleep.

We left the hospital earlier than usual since he was resting so nicely. Before we left, though, I got a call from one of my classmates. I haven't talked to her since my reunion a couple of years ago. She kept asking if there was anything that I needed. Her calling was more than enough! And others that we have gone to school with have posted. Everyone wants to help, just being there, either physically or through posts, is more than enough.

I want to again thank everyone. I feel that words cannot truly express how thankful I am for everyone and all that they have done. From donating to the benevolent account at BECU and posting comments to show support and visiting the hospital and all of the things that everyone is doing for Randy and for us, his family ~ thank you, thank you, thank you! You all are helping me make it through this!

Quick Update

We have decided on the facility that Randy will go in if he does not wake up enough to participate in acute rehab (the 3 hour a day) by the time the restraints can be taken off. We chose the Highline Hospital in Tukwilla (it is close to the airport). I called a few different places and they didn't have the rehab type of a program that I wanted. We visited one other place that had come highly recommended by staff here, but it didn't seem good enough to me.

The Highline program really believes in family participation, which is what we wanted. They don't have set hours that we can be there like the others do ~ in fact, we could chose to stay the night unless he had a roommate and we got in the way of the sleeping of the roommate. They said, though, that they would try to get him into a private room, which the other facilities didn't even have. They would also allow pets to be brought in for visitation and they encourage friends to visit. It was exactly what we wanted for him.

So now we just have to wait for him to wake up enough to not need restraints. For today, they upped his relaxation medication. I think they gave him a little too much, though ~ he has been sleeping all day. They said they will have to play with the dosage until they find the right amount. Yesterday, he was too active and could have been a danger to himself. Until he wakes up enough and can control his impulsive actions (which currently include sitting straight up, pulling himself over to the side of the bed, kicking everywhere and everything), he will need to be restrained.

Today was an exhausting day!

Randy was incredibly active today! At one point, I told him that our four hands (his mother and myself) were losing against his one hand ~ he stuck his tongue out in a "ha ha" sort of way). He did get to the point that he was too much for us to handle and his blood pressure was elevated, which could be a sign of pain. So we gave in and said okay to the oxy stuff. Normally that stuff knocks him out, but it didn't! He was like the energizer bunny ~ he kept going and going and going... After the meds, he did calm down a little and his blood pressure went back to normal, so I am guessing he was in pain.

We had to keep his right hand restrained most of the day because he is so much stronger than we are and he was so determined in pulling everything off and out. He succeeded in pulling out his IV, but part of that was because the nurses were there and had untied him to move him and weren't paying close enough attention ~ he hasn't pulled out an IV yet when his mother and/or I are watching him! He even bite the finger of one of the nurses, hard enough to pull off part of her glove.

Randy did some talking today, but nothing quite on the level of recommending fish. At one point, he said out of the blue "If I could fly". At another time, when I asked him if he knew where he was at he said "I don't know" He actually said that a few times throughout the day to various questions. The nurse asked him some questions and he did good at responding to them, though not necessarily with the right answers. She asked him what year it was and he said 1924. She asked him how old he was and he said 24 (he is 29). She asked him what year he was born in and he said 75 (he was born in 76, I was born in 75). I am just happy that he was trying to answer her rather than doing to the random mumbling he did for so long.

He is coming back to us a little more every day.

We had an amazing day!!

I got to the hospital early afternoon today. I took the morning off while Randy's parents went to hang out with him. I took time to sleep in, went to church and had an excursion at home depot (Randy had started a remodel of our half bath ~ he was going to move the walls out and put in a shower, but had only gotten as far as tearing out the flooring. My wonderfully amazing neighbor and his fabulous son just came in and are doing the project, so I had to go get the flooring that we wanted in there). It was nice to have a small break, but I was definitely ready to see him by the time all my errands were done!

By the time I got to the hospital, Randy was pretty alert. I was told that he did a great job of following commands by the nurse and the nurse practitioner. He told the nurse practitioner his last name. He also started moving his left leg (Yeah!!!). He wiggled his toes on command on the left side and throughout the day he was moving that leg around.

Randy is definitely a man of patterns at this current stage. He will do a few movements over and over again and then move onto something else that he will do over and over again. At one point today, I was lying next to him, just talking to him, and he began leaning over and kissing me then lying back down. He did that over and over for awhile. That pattern I liked! But then he went back to the spitting thing.

Randy showed great improvements with his speech today. When I was lying next to him, I asked him if he knew where he was and he shook his head no. I told him he was at a hospital in Seattle and I asked him if he knew why he was there. He responded with "Tell me why". When I first got there today, I was telling Marsha, Randy's mom, that I had stopped on the way to the hospital and grabbed a cheeseburger and Randy said "I want cheese". There were several times throughout the day that he would say partial sentences. It was so good to hear. My favorite thing he said today, though, was in response to something that a friend had asked him. I don't even remember what she had asked, but Randy responded, clear as day "I recommend the fish".

I really needed today. The last few days, I have been feeling really down, but today has just been amazing. Starting off with the message today from the Associate Pastor that really was exactly what I need to hear today, to coming home and seeing my neighbors work so hard on something that Randy was really wanting done, to having Doug visit and serve as a reminder that there are people out there who have been through what Randy is going through and they made it through this, and our friends who willingly took our daughter for the day to entertain her, and all of those that visited Randy to check on him and us. People have been so amazing through all of this. Times when I start feeling down, people are there to bring me back up through all of the support everyone is giving.

I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people. I couldn't have been as strong through this as I am if it hadn't been for all of you. Everyone that is praying for Randy and telling others about him so they can pass it on. Everyone that has taken care of my yard! Everyone that has posted comments on the blog (even though I am really bad at responding to some, I do read every single comment, and I read them quite a few times). Everyone that has visited Randy and/or called to check on him. Thank you all so much!

So when I start to feel down, I can remind myself of how many people I have supporting us through this, and of course, I can remember that Randy recommends the fish :-).

Our Day

Randy had a good day today. The nurse said that before we got there, Randy was very alert. He said that Randy followed commands for moving his right arm and leg. He also was able to tell the nurse his first name ~ so now I am not the only one that has heard him say it! He slept most of the morning, but we found out later it was because they had given him oxycodon around 9 am ~ we had stepped out so they could give him a bath and I guess they gave it to him then. When we are there, we don't let them give it to him. I think too often they overmedicate people there.

When Randy finally woke up this afternoon, though, he was responding very well. His dad told him to say "I hope to shout" and he repeated it very clearly. He also started sitting straight up on his own. He would be lying flat in bed and then he would get a hold of the railing and sit straight up for just a moment then he would run out of energy and lie back down. He was also getting his right leg off the bed and he was able to pull himself over, so I think he could easily fall out of bed at this point. When we left, the nurse had to restrain both his arm and his leg on his right side. I think he is ready to get out of there!

On the way out tonight, the head nurse stopped us to ask about facilities again. He is scheduling a meeting this Tuesday for us to meet (by us, I think he is referring to the head nurses and the family) to discuss getting him off of restraints. I find it funny that this was brought up on the day that he started becoming so active we had to restrain him more. But we are going to go ahead and meet with them to listen to what they have to say. He mentioned there are alternatives to restraints such as lower beds, but lowering the bed isn't going to prevent him from falling out of it! Another "alternative" he mentioned was supervision by the family, but then wouldn't we be acting as the restraints? So... we will see how the meeting goes. Now that we have visited a rehab place, I am feeling very positive about Randy ending up there and I am ready for him to go and start that faze (he would get more rehab in the facility than he does now because they rarely work with him right now), but I don't see how he can be safe right now without restraints.

We shall see how things go over the next couple of days...

Today

Our day wasn't too different than yesterday. Anytime that we would release Randy's hand, it was all over. He continued with the spitting thing all day today. Since they had to wait 24 hours after putting the feeding tube in the stomach to utilize it for anything including medications, Randy didn't get his normal morning medicine that makes him relax. It was kind of nice ~ he was very active and alert.

The occupational therapist came in and took off Randy's cast and then put a new one on. They also worked with him a bit with getting him to sit up. He could hold himself up for only a very short time. They gave him a washcloth and told him to wash his face. He followed the command for the most part ~ he only washed the lower part of his face. They also told him to wash his left arm and he did it. It all wore him out, though. Right after that he zonked out for awhile. It gave me a chance to try to get some sleep.

This afternoon, we visited the Highline medical Center in Tukwila. I want to go back for another visit ~ today I was very tired so I missed a lot of things I wanted to observe and ask questions about. From the initial visit, though, it seems like a good place. It doesn't have a nursing home feel to it. Their focus is rehab, which is what Randy really needs. They can start him off slow and then work with him through the end with his rehab needs. The problem with this place, though, is that, since it is more rehab than nursing classification, the insurance would require that Randy shows progress every week for them to continue to pay and I don't know if he is quite there yet to be able to show the kind of improvement they need. I think he is close, though. He has his moments where he will follow commands and then he goes back into his own little world.

We are going to go visit another one tomorrow that sounds as if it is also more rehab than nursing home type facility. That is the type of place I would really like him to go to.

Our Day

Here is a picture of Randy's car. This was taken at the place it is sitting at now, not the accident scene. I had thought I wanted to go see it. The agent emailed me the photos and now I am glad I didn't go ~ seeing some of them in picture form is hard enough.

Anyone that wants to see all of the pictures out of curiosity can email me and I can send them to you.

For updates, though, Randy was alert for most of the day. When he and I were in the room alone, I asked him what he name was and he said very clearly "Randy". He wouldn't do it any other time, though. He continued with his spitting thing. We could put a paper towel in his hand, though, and he would wipe off his mouth. He also blew his nose at one point today with the paper towel ~ it must have been bugging him after having so much stuff in it.

During the times that we would release Randy's hand from the restraint, it would be all over. To keep him from pulling out the feeding tube in his stomach, they put a brace around it that goes all around him so he can't pull it off. He didn't even try. Instead, he just stuck his hand right underneath the brace to try to get to the tube. He also showed us today that he can undo the straps of his neck brace or remove the pads from it that protect his skin from the plastic. We finally put the glove thing on him to give us a break and he started trying to take it off with his mouth. Hopefully tonight he does not succeed!

Once today, after the tech took his vital signs, he said "That was easy". Some words are so clear, but I have noticed that when he says others, such as the word "very", it doesn't quite sound right ~ he was having a hard time with the "v" part of it.

But today felt like a good day for him.

So far today

The procedure went okay ~ no complications. Randy was pretty out of it for most of the morning due to the pain medication the gave him. Once he came awake, though, he has been non stop action! His eyes have been open for quite awhile. His hands are going everywhere! He got a good grip on his neck brace and almost pulled it off. All he got, though, was one of the pads. He pulled it out then put it in his teeth and wouldn't let go.

I want to thank everyone for all of their input on facilities. We are checking up on all recommended using the websites that Gregg provided. A lot of them, though, deal mainly with elderly patients and not so much brain injury. The ones that I have gotten back as dealing with brain injury are: Highline Hospital in Tukwila (they have some skilled nursing beds), Seattle Medical & Rehab, and Hallmark Manor in Federal Way.

Randy's mom and I will start visiting them tomorrow when Randy's sister is here to sit with him.

Updates for Today

Not much changed during the remainder of the time that we were at the hospital today. He has short times of being alert and seemingly responding to us then he goes back into just talking and not making much sense and not responding to anyone. He did start this spitting thing today. The nurse tried vacuuming his mouth out, thinking there was perhaps something that was irritating him, but he kept doing it even after that. At one point, his mom said "That's gross" as she went to get another towel to get it off his face and I am almost positive he said "disgusting".

We did have the doctor okay a nicotine patch today. Me not ever being smoker, I didn't even consider that he could be dealing with withdrawals along with everything else he has to deal with.

They also had me sign a consent form today for the feeding tube to be placed in his stomach. They will be doing the procedure tomorrow morning. I know it is a procedure they have done many many times before, but of course, I am still a little worried. I, of course, had to ask what the risks are ~ bleeding, infection where the tube will be, possible aspiration if he gets sick.

I think that is it for the updates today.

Some updates

For facilities: I called Northwest Hospital and they do not have any skilled nursing beds. They told me the same thing that we are being told here ~ he has to be able to participate in at least 3 hours of rehab before he can be admitted there. I also called Swedish and they said they just closed down their skilled nursing area. I put in a request to the social worker to provide us with a list of facilities that are known to deal with head injury patients. That might help us decided on a place.

Randy has been pretty much the same today as he was yesterday. They did test out his swallowing reflex today. His automatic reflex is working, but he wasn't swallowing on command. He did well with ice chips and he took a couple of sips of water with a straw, but when they gave him applesauce, he spit it out.

That is really the only update so far from today ~ he is making slow progress! We won't get to stay here much longer with him today ~ my daughter is coming back from camp tonight so I have to go pick her up. It is always hard to leave him, especially during his more alert time!

Today was a long day!

I think we might have frustrated all of the nurses a bit today! My stress level has been very high with the whole situation of finding a Skilled Nursing Facility for Randy as well as trying to be there to make sure he is getting the best care possible and being stressed over worrying about infections and fevers and such. With my stress level being high, my temper was short.

Randy has had diarrhea the past few days (I am sure a lot of it is from all of the medications being pushed through his system) and there has been too many instances where they did not change him in a timely manner. We were constantly on them, which I know for Randy's sake is a good thing. But I also do understand that they are very understaffed right now and the nurses are spread way too thin. The second nurse he had to day really frustrated me at the beginning. Randy had expressed to us that he was in pain so I asked for pain medication for him. She brought in tylenol tablets and then in looking at him, asked if he could swallow the tablets. He is on a feeding tube for a reason! Then she brought in too much oxycodon. I didn't let her give it to him. He only got tylenol (liquid form, of course!) and that alone seemed to really help him. For the rest of the day, anytime she gave him medicine, I asked her what it was or I just went up and looked at the label. By the end of the day, though, she just brought in all of the medicince and told me what it was before even trying to give it to him. She said she would do the same for one of her loved ones if they couldn't take care of themselves. By late this evening, we were feeling comfortable enough to leave him in her care.

As far as the infections go, they still haven't found anything. They took more blood today. Throughout the day, he kept spiking high temps, but then they would go away as quick as they came. They will be ending his antibiotics tomorrow. It hasn't been a full two weeks, but the antibiotic he was on was to treat meningitis, but since the spinal tap came back clear, they are going to go ahead and take him off of them now.

They also put him on the list to have his feeding tube put into his stomach (it is a small procedure they do, they insert it surgically through his belly directly into the stomach). I guess it will be easier on him and harder for him to pull out. He would have to have it in his stomach to go to a nursing facility. So it sounds to me like they are really getting him ready to move. I am just a little worried that they will try to drug him to show he doesn't need restraints ~ which is why I was very stressed about what medicine they were giving him all throughout the day.

One last update: we finally took Randy's braid down and had it donated to locks of love. The salon we took it into was very nice. They said they would get it cleaned up and send it in. I know he isn't going to be happy about losing all of his hair, but at least it went to help others.

I think that is it for now.

Updates

The spinal fluid came back clear so no meningitis. The will continue to look at it for the next couple of days to see if anything else comes up. The blood work still won't show anything for the next couple of days. The cat scan shows some progression. They will be taking an x-ray of his lungs to see if any fluid got in there that could have caused infection.

So for right now, we don't know what is causing the fevers. It could be the injury near his brain stem.

They have also began talking about facilities again. The one in Issaquah (the Providence Marianwood) is on the National Watch list, so I don't know that we want to send him there. Here is the list I have for potentials based on research I did online, if people could respond with feedback:

Swedish Medical Center (Seattle)
Bessie Burton Sullivan SNF (Seattle)
Hallmark Manor (Federal Way)
Kin on Health Care Center (Seattle)
Springs at Pacific Regent (Bellevue)

How our day went

Regarding the night nurse ~ we voiced our complaints to the head nurse and she guaranteed us that that nurse will not be assigned to Randy anymore. She said she will definitely be talking to the nurse and educating her on things. As long as she stays away from Randy, I will feel a lot better. Tonight, we had our favorite night nurse on. We know that when he is working, Randy is good care during the night, which makes us feel a lot better about leaving him!

Randy rested most of today. I was still feeling pretty worn out, so I just laid down next to him in the bed and went right to sleep. I was so out that I didn't even know his nurse came in and gave him his medicine.

Over the last couple of days, Randy has been having issues with fevers again. They come and they go ~ they don't seem to last very long. At one point we were told it might be because of the fracture near his brain stem that could be causing his body's temperature to be all out of wack. Today, though, they decided to do a lumbar puncture to make sure there are no infections. It scared us a little when they announced they were going to do it because a week ago when the infectious disease doctors wanted to have one done, Randy's neurosurgery team of doctors said no. I told Randy's nurse that I was worried about it, so she had one of the neurosurgery doctors come in and talk to me before they did the procedure. Since Randy can't follow commands on a consistent basis and he doesn't lie still, they had to drug him rather heavily to do the procedure, so Randy pretty much slept the rest of the day. We hung out at the hospital, though, until we knew who the night nurse would be.

They also did a cat scan this afternoon. We should have the results of both the spinal tap and the cat scan by tomorrow morning. They also did some more blood work to test for infections. We won't have those results for a couple of days. I just hope that with all of these tests, they will find some answers.

Randy's Night

Randy had a busy night last night. In leaving last night, Randy's mom and I felt a little uneasy about the night nurse. She had never worked with Randy before. When she walked into his room last night, she said hi to Randy. He opened his eyes to look at her and lifted his head a little. So she sat his bed up so he was sitting almost straight up. The bed isn't cushioned enough for him to slide down in, so he really shouldn't be sat up that straight at this point. As soon as she walked out of the room, I put his bed back down.

When we voiced our concern over how Randy had not used the thing they put in place of the catheter, she asked Randy if he needed to pee. He didn't respond to she had me ask him. I didn't see or hear a response from him, but she said that he said no. I tried to explain to her that his responses aren't always to be trusted, but she argued and said that he seemed to respond appropriately. So when it came to the point of me being almost too tired to drive, we reluctantly left him in her care.

When we came in this morning, we found out that she had not restrained him properly in the night (when no one is there with him, he has to wear a padded glove on his hand to stop him from pulling tubes out). He pulled his feeding tube all the way out.

We are not too happy with her and don't want her to come near him again at this point. We plan to make a complaint to the head nurse. The nurse he has today (which is thankfully one of our two favorites on this floor) has already complained to the head nurse about the lack of care, so our complaint will really reinforce it.

Other than that, Randy is doing well. He has been resting nicely this morning.

Today

I am pretty tired at this point, so this might be a pretty short post. I will try to remember everything that happened today...

One big thing for Randy today ~ he got the trumpet taken out of his nose. The trumpet has been in since they took the breathing tube out to make sure that his airway stayed open because of his facial fractures. Randy had no issues breathing once they took it out. He seemed to rest so much more comfortably. I am sure that thing had to be incredibly uncomfortable!!

They also switched out his catheter to some type of thing that doesn't go directly into the bladder, so he will get to essentially chose now when he needs to go rather than just having his bladder automatically drained. By the time that we had left the hospital, though, he still had not chosen to do anything.

Randy spent a good part of the day resting. He was alert for a little while and to me, he seemed a little more responsive to people than before. He gave his dad quite a few hugs before had to leave. He also leaned up to kiss me when I got close to talk to him. It feels like he is a little more there every day.

Best time for visitors

To answer Doug's question that was posted in the comments of when is best to catch Randy awake and active, I think it is late afternoon into the evening. That is when he tends to be the most alert. Today though, he was pretty active throughout most of the day ~ only sleeping a couple of hours after his morning medicine (just long enough for me to take a shower and watch a little tv).

Little improvements

I know it is hard to tell from this picture, but the tongue that is sticking out is trying to get to the feeding tube since we won't let his hand up there to take it out. I take this as a sign that Randy is improving.

He does a little more every day. Yesterday he was kissing my hand. When the EEG doctor came in to visit Randy and I was talking about him kissing my hand, Randy took my hand to his mouth again and kissed it ~ so he definitely heard me! He also, in getting frustrated with me over not letting his hand pull out his feeding tube, tried to shake me off, showing definite frustration.

Today he stuck his tongue out when the nurse asked him to while she was cleaning his mouth until she started to put in some medicine he doesn't like, then he clamped his mouth shut. At one point, it even sounded as though he told her to go away. He also showed he has feeling in his left leg today. He hasn't shown any reflex in the leg for awhile, but today, when the nurse pushed her pen into his toes to test him, he said "Ow Ow Ow".

Little improvements each day.

So far today

Randy has been a lot more alert throughout the day than usual. Normally, he doesn't quite wake up until late afternoon.

We got to the hospital a little later than usual this morning because I had to take care of getting my Leave of Absence paperwork in. The EEG doctor that visits Randy often told us that when he walked in the room, Randy was talking (not coherently) and he was scratching his foot ~ so he wasn't restrained as much as he should have been.

The nurse said he is following some commands, but still not consistent. This morning, when I said "I love you" he said it back and he kissed my hand. So, a little more improvement than yesterday.

He also got a cast put on his right leg today to stretch it out. It will stay on for 3 days. Then they will take it off and re-evaluate if it needs to go back on for a few more days. They didn't have to put one on the left leg. Since they put the cast on, though, he has been very interested in feeling it and he keeps lifting his leg up and moving it around. I am sure it feels a little uncomfortable right now! They also put a temporary splint thing on his left arm. He tends to ball his hand in a fist, which isn't good for him. So the splint makes his fingers go out a bit.

I plan to stay the night with him again tonight, so this might be my only post for today unless anything major changes.

Updates for Today

The blood work has not come back yet, but other tests they did yesterday do show Randy has a bacteria. From my understanding, the antibiotics he is currently on, while killing off bad bacteria, can also get rid of good stuff, and in that process, allowed this new bacteria to grow. It really just means another antibiotic. Hopefully this new antibiotic will take care of it and they won't find any other bacteria within his blood when that comes back. This new bacteria, though, is very contagious. For those of us who have healthy immune systems, it isn't an issue, but because it can be easily spread, it means we wash our hands even more than we currently were to make sure we don't spread it to any other patients there.

Randy had a great afternoon. After a very restful morning, he was very talkative. His dad called and talked to him for awhile over the phone. Randy was pretty responsive for most of it. He also had a good friend come (one that has been amazing through all of this and has come at least every other day) and he also have visitors from Boeing. With those visitors, I could see a big difference in Randy. I think it really helped him. Today, he was talking a lot more and had a few more words that were clear. His answering of questions is still not consistent ~ he will say "Yeah" to most anything, but occasionally he will shake his head no, it is kind of a hit and miss. When I told him I loved him, he said very clearly "I love you too". Of course, no one else was in the room to hear, but it was very clear. When the nurse was messing with his IV (they are having a hard time finding veins since they had to pull out the pick line from the infection), he winced and she asked him if it hurt. He said "It hurts" ~ okay, that wasn't his exact words, he put a word in between that I will leave off of the blog, but it was very clear!

The social worker came to talk to me this morning again about a skilled nursing facility. He made it sound as though Randy was going to be moved in the next couple of days. I told him that the doctor had said Randy won't move until he is done with the antibiotics, but the response I got from the social worker was that the nursing facility could give him antibiotics. Then this new bacteria came up. They can't move him anywhere with this since it is contagious. I also found out from talking to other people within the hospital that no nursing facility can take Randy as long as he has to be restrained ~ it is against the law for nursing facilities to restrain any of their patients. So when the social worker came back to me this afternoon, I pointed out that Randy has restraints, but he tried to push it off that it was just part of storming episodes and that those should pass soon. Someone had told me that it is the Harborview way to try to push patients out as soon as they can and that the social workers get a lot of stress put on them for this process. But I can guarantee that Randy's restraints have nothing to do with his storming. His storming episodes have gone down quite a bit ~ a combination of his body healing and some medication they have him on. His movements now are more exploratory, trying to remove tubes that are uncomfortable, and him trying to sit up. But as long as he is on restraints, he won't have to go anywhere. So hopefully he stays on restraints until he is able to do rehab there.

That is all of the updates I can think of tonight.

Morning Update

Randy's fever peaked yesterday afternoon around the time of my post and has since been coming down. I don't believe he is running fever this morning. The x-rays they took of his chest yesterday came out clear. The blood work will take 24 to 48 hours to get back.

He seemed to have had a good night last night, but quite honestly, I slept pretty soundly (in fact, I slept better last night than I have the last 2 weeks) so if anything did happen I don't know that I would have known. It was nice to just be in the same room with him all night. Last night right before I went to sleep, he was sweating a lot. It could have been storming episodes, which lately have been showing themselves through sweating and occassional shaking, but the nurse gave him a low dose of pain medication and the sweating almost immediatelly went away, so it could have been pain. I can't wait until he can just tell us what he is feeling so we know what to do for him!

All morning, he has been resting nicely ~ they gave him something to help with that. It isn't to make him sleep, but just relax him.

I think that is all of the updates for this morning. I will post more later.

Short update

Randy is running fever again. They are going to do some blood work to see if they can tell why. They said, last they checked, his white count had been going down. This might partly explain, though, why he has not had much energy at all today. Even this afternoon, he really hasn't perked up.

Since the resource center where they have internet access is closing here soon, I won't be able to post anymore tonight, but by tomorrow, we will hopefully have the results of the bloodwork and some explanation of the fever.

Today

Today has been pretty similar to yesterday. Randy has spent most of the day resting and is just now starting to get active. This morning, he kind of woke up when we got here and talked a bit. I swear he told me he had a headache. Really, the only word that was clear was "headache". He gave the nurse a thumbs up one time that she asked, but didn't do it the other couple of times.

I brought in my computer today so that I can play him some music that I know he likes. So far he hasn't really responded to it at all, but he has seemed very tired most of the morning.

Tonight, I won't be doing my normal end of the day posting. Randy's mom is going to go back to Yakima for the night and taking my daughter with her, so I will be staying at the hospital with Randy. I dropped our dogs off at the dog sitters this morning so I wouldn't have to worry about them. Daisy (the white dog in the pictures with Randy) is missing him, I think. She has started chewing up things around the house. She usually follows Randy everywhere he goes. As soon as he stops moving, she will sit right down next to his feet. Maybe, as he becomes more alert, we can bring her in to see him.

Happy 4th of July

Randy had a good day today. He spent most of the morning resting. But during the afternoon, he became quite active.

They sat him up in his chair during the late afternoon and it was a constant battle to make sure he didn't pull out the feeding tube from his nose. He was wanting to feel everything with his right hand. There were times he would also reach out in front of him ~ I am not sure if he was seeing something and trying to touch it or if he couldn't see and wanted to know what was there.

He did better today with talking. He had a lot of times where he would just start talking and we couldn't understand, but he would have moments where we could pick out a few words. His dad talked to him via cell phone and it really sounded as though Randy was responding to what he was saying. He even did a little laugh in appropriate places. We had some friends visit today and he was able to give them a thumbs up when I asked him to. At one point today, I asked him a question and when he didn't respond, I asked it again. He still didn't respond so I asked him if he was ignoring me and he said "Yeah".

Medically, his white blood cell count is getting lower, which is a great thing ~ it means the antibiotics are doing their thing and whatever infections he has are going away and his electrolytes are evening out, which means his body is healing and returning to a more normal state.

I saw Randy move his left arm a bit today, but the movement comes more from the shoulder than him actually moving the arm. There has been no movement in the left leg. It feels so much colder than the right leg. While I was doing some of his exercises with him today, I was bending his left leg and moving it up and down and I asked him if he would help me. He, of course, didn't move the left leg, but he followed the same motions in his right leg throughout the rest of the exercise. His right foot is still very stiff. I rubbed it a lot last night and today I rubbed it some more along with the lower part of his leg. That helped him to straighten out his foot a bit more, but I think they are still going to cast it to keep it in the right position.

He opened his eyes quite a bit today. The left eye looks normal, but the right eye rolls up. The nurse told us that, with time, that eye might return to normal, or it might not. At this point, we don't even know if he will be able to see.

I am so excited over the little progress that he makes everyday. Today, though, was a bit harder for me. I feel as though I am talking to him as though he is a child ~ telling him no (though I do understand that keeping him from pulling tubes out is very important). It is also really hard to see him get frustrated. There were several times today I could tell he was getting upset and really frustrated with people because we kept restricting him. It was also really hard not being with him to celebrate the 4th. I really miss him.

Mostly a day of rest

For most of the day, Randy was pretty restful. He would have short moments where he would sit up, open his eyes and start talking (not anything we can understand at this point), and then he would lie back down and be out, not responding to anything.

It was kind of a hit and miss on whether he would respond to commands. One nurse he had told him to squeeze her hand and he did. She then told him to raise two fingers, but instead he held up all five. But then, when she told him to push down on his leg onto her hand, he did that as well as hold up two fingers. Then, of course, when the doctor comes in, he responds to nothing.

One thing he did do a lot of today was feel around. He used his right arm and he would feel around his right leg, his left arm, his neck brace, his nightgown, his sheet, anything he could reach. We just had to watch him to make sure he stopped at just the feeling and didn't start grabbing and yanking out tubes. With this new movement, it has kind of become a pain to do his vitals and take blood. This morning, when one of the lab people went to take his blood, he reached up and grabbed her hand. Throughout the day, when one of the nurses would put a thing on his finger to test his oxygen level, he would take maneuver it off.

By the time we left, though, he was starting to really come around and was talking and responding pretty well. Unfortunately, it was just in time for his night time drug. They give the patients drugs to relax them at night to help them stay on a day night schedule. Hopefully he got enough rest today, though, that he will be more active tomorrow.

One thing I did today was request to talk to a physical therapist. He is suppose to get visits from them 3 times a week, I believe. But they sometimes get very busy and can't quite make it. But today, I requested they come and I asked her to show me the stretches that he needs so I can start doing them for him everyday. With his right leg, though, he tightens up his muscles so much that his right foot has turned inward. The physical therapist tried to loosen it up with stretching, but they were too tight, so she has decided to put a cast on his leg that will make his foot go in the right direction so he doesn't have any permanent damage. So for right now, I will be working with just his left side to make sure the same thing doesn't happen with that arm and leg.

Also, I forgot to mention a couple of days ago, we made the decision to cut Randy's braid off. The one side of his head was, of course, shaved, but they had left the braid. His hair on that side was getting all tangled and it was so gross. I made my sister cut it before she left to go back to Oklahoma so when he wakes up he can be mad at her and not me! After we cut it off, the nurse he had that day got the big knots out and washed the little that is left. Once he is able to get his brace taken off (which will be when he can tell the doctor what hurts and what doesn't) we can shave it and even it out, but for right now, he is still a bit lopsided.

I think that is all of the updates for today. We are just hoping that tomorrow, Randy continues to do a little bit more and continues to really work at coming back to us. Unfortunately, in the area that we are in within the hospital, we have seen people do really great and then go backwards a bit. We just pray that he continues to fight and strive forward.

Randy has been moved

Randy is now in room 371. He was moved to a private room last night. It is the corner room (on the right if you are facing the water). It is very nice room with a lot more space for us and all of our stuff.

It scared me a bit this morning ~ I walked into his old room without even looking at the names on the outside of the door and someone else was in his room.

He seems to be good this morning ~ really just been resting. He has opened his eyes a few times and mumbled, but just seems really tired. Yesterday was a big day for him.

God gave us a miracle today!

Can you see Randy's eye in this picture? It is open!! He had his eyes open a lot wider than this, but by then, the disk in my digital camera was full.

But opening his eyes was not the only thing Randy did today. He started the morning off by trying to talk again, but we couldn't understand what he was trying to say. Randy's nurse for the day, Becky (who is absolutely wonderful ~ we have had her for a few days off and on) started giving him commands. She told him to give a thumbs up. I don't think any of us really expected him to do it. He surprised us all! He then opened his eyes on command. As Randy's mom and I left the hospital to go to church this morning, I bent down to him and said "Randy" and he turned to me and said "huh". I then said "Your mom and I are going to leave now to go to church but your dad is going to stay with you. Okay?" He responded back with "Okay, okay". It was so clear.

All of that wore him out a bit, so he rested for awhile. But later, he had some family visit, and as his medication was wearing off (they had given him something to help him relax a bit) he started doing more and more. He would answer questions with a "Yeah" and by shaking his head yes or no. He did have times where he would try to answer by talking in full sentences, but we couldn't understand what he was saying.

By the end of the day, there were a couple of times I could tell he was getting frustrated. He was trying so hard to talk to us and I told him that we just couldn't understand right now. He raised his voice and said whatever it was again.

He even got upset at the nurse at one point, I think. She was suctioning out his mouth and throat, which gags him. She pulled the tube out, cleaned it and then told him that she was going to do it again. He clamped his mouth shut so hard!

It was so good to hear his voice and to get to communicate with him ~ to have a part of my Randy back! Yet, it was also really hard because we saw him in discomfort and being frustrated. He really wanted to pull the tubes out of his nose (he has a feeding tube in one nostril and then a trumpet thing to help clear his air way in the other). There were a couple of times throughout the day that I saw him try to breath through his nose and then he would try to reach up to pull it out and we stopped him he would get an awful look on his face. He was determined, though, to get the tubes out. Even when we restrained his right hand by tying it up (he still isn't really using the left side), he started bending his upper body down to the hand to try to pull it out.

Today was just an absolutely amazing day!

Even with all of the great things that happened today, though, we need to remember that Randy isn't out of critical condition yet. His body is still battling infection. He still needs a lot of prayer that his body will be strong enough to battle whatever infection it is dealing with.

Today felt like a good day!

Over last night, I guess Randy continued to run fever and had a lot of storming episodes. They took an x-ray of his chest to make sure his lungs weren't contributing to the fever and the x-ray came out clear, so his lungs are doing great.

As far as the infection goes, they know Randy has an infection, but to narrow it down to find out where all it is and if it is bacteria and if so, what type of bacteria it is, they would have to do the lumbar puncture. The infectious disease doctors wanted that done right away, but Randy's main doctor (the neurologist) said that with Randy's head injury, he felt doing the lumbar puncture was too risky. So their plan of action is to keep Randy on the two different antibiotics. The newest one will cover a broader selection of bacteria. So at this point, they are kind of doing a guessing game and hoping that one of the antibiotics will clear up whatever infection he has. He will be on the antibiotics for at least 2 weeks and while he is on them, he cannot be moved out of the hospital, which means I definitely have more time until I have to worry about them trying to move him into a skilled nursing facility.

The good news is, Randy hasn't ran fever throughout most of the day. I give more credit to all of the prayers going on out there than I do to the medicine at this point. You could tell he was feeling so much better today. Throughout most of the day, he was responsive to people talking to him. The only time he really wasn't was right after they gave him pain medicine. He actually even tried to talk today. I cannot even begin to tell you how great that felt. I know it is a baby step in his recovery process, but it felt so good. The first time happened right after Cass (our daughter) walked in the room this morning. Then, later this evening, when he had a few people talking at him, he started doing a lot more and even got a bit louder. Of course, we can't understand what he is saying, other than we thought we could make out the word "okay", but it was so good to hear him trying. The nurse said when she asked him to open his eyes he shook his head no. It could, of course, been just a non purposeful movement, but we are looking at it as a positive thing.

There is one doctor (the one who performed Randy's EEG) who has been through a head injury himself, though it was the front part of his head and Randy's is in the back. He told us that, no matter what any of the doctor's say, what is going to bring Randy out of this coma is people talking to him making him want to come out of it. He said to talk to him about memories and things that he really likes. So I want to encourage everyone to continue to visit Randy and talk to him about work or airplanes and flying or whatever else you know that means something to him. I know that Randy loves what he does so much ~ it is such a big part of him. He also has a love for flying and was working on getting his pilot's license.

And I just want to thank everyone again and again for all of the support they have provided. It has helped keep me going day after day!