He was given an air mattress on his bed today which seems like it has helped him to rest a little more comfortably today.
The tube feedings continue to go well. He continues to have a little discomfort from this procedure, but within the week the discomfort should be gone. His intravenous feeds have been discontinued.
He had a CT Scan this morning which showed the hydrocephalus (extra fluid) in the brain as being stable - which means that it has not gotten worse but it is not decreasing either. The scan did show some reabsorption of the blood from the brain bleed. This is a very good thing. The neurologist said today that they do not always see this much reabsorption this early. He still continues to have great difficulty with speech and with speech comprehension. Again, this is all due to this brain bleed (Hemorrhagic Stroke). This, too, is what has affected his swallowing ability. We continue to hold out hope that these things will eventually return to normal.
He has been restarted on a very low dose of blood thinner today. He will be watched closely in regards to the possibility of another brain bleed. But at this point the neurologists feel the risks of leaving him off the blood thinner outweigh the benefits. He will also continue to remain on a daily aspirin along with a low dose of lovenox. These both aid in the prevention of clot formation.
He continues to remain on an antifungal medication and will for another 3 days. Then he should be able to be taken off as all his cultures have come back negative. Yeah!
His fever is gone today, but now he seems to be having some trouble with his heart rate being rather high.
The doctors are beginning to look at long range plans at this point. Where he goes from here will depend on how much he improves within the next week. If he improves to the point that he will be able to tolerate at least 3 hours of rehab daily, then he will be able to move to in-house acute rehabilitation. If he does not improve to that level but everything else stabilizes then he will have to be moved to a skilled nursing home that incorporates therapy.
We thank you again for praying and ask that you continue to pray.
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