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.