Alan Update #7
Well, on day 2 after the “big cut” Alan looks the worse for wear. The right side of his face is swollen and he has a black eye starting. His big complaint is that everything feels “tight.”
They removed his football helmet bandage, removed the shallow blood drain tube in his head, removed an arterial tube in his arm, removed the catheter, and washed his hair. Alan then washed his face, brushed his teeth, and declared that things were better.
The “big cut” is fairly dramatic and runs from his hairline to the back of his head and then down around under his ear. The nurse says it’s about 70 staples (we haven’t counted them yet.)
The speech therapist notes that he is speaking fairly monotonic at the moment and that they will need to work on that in Rehab.
The movement of his left arm and leg is further improved and the therapists say they wouldn’t normally have expected that much ability until at least several weeks after the operation, not two days.
The team reports that the doctor is very pleased with the results of the post-operative MRI.
The deep ventricular drain for brain/spinal fluid will be clamped at midnight tonight and a CT scan in the morning will determine if they need to unclamp it for further drainage or if they can remove it altogether. This is the last big hurdle to getting out of the NICU and eventually off to Rehab.
Alan’s spirits are good, he’s cracking jokes, and he’s eating everything put in front of him. Aunt Nancy is driving Amber down soon to visit and he’s really looking forward to that. He misses Angel but I can’t figure a way to smuggle an 85 lb. German Shephard into his room (unless maybe John wore his uniform and we hung a DEA vest on Angel?)
Many thanks to everyone for the continued prayers, they are very much appreciated as his recovery continues and we await the pathology report.
God Bless,
Andrew