SATURDAY – 11/15

Dad has a different Critical Care Attending today – Dr. Smithson. He is a very tall, very kind man. The first thing he said was that he’d come by the evening before to check on Dad and had looked into the eyes of a man who wants to live. He also stressed that he’s providing medical/technical support, but healing comes from the family. He was pleased to hear from us that Dad is a man of great faith. He explained everything so well. Mom asked him if Laura Beth who is a 4th year med student could see the CT and he said he’d send someone by.

The day was like Friday – more aware and stronger in the morning, and then noticeable fading in the afternoon. We’re so on edge, the tension increases every time Dad doesn’t score 100% on his neuro quiz. Around 6:00, just as we were getting ready to leave, Dr. James came by and said he was there to go over the CT with Laura Beth. Dr. James did his residency in neurosurgery and has then been sub-specializing in aneurysms. He’s seen a number of cases similar to Dad’s.

We all gathered around and he pulled up Thursday’s scan, talked about the size of the bleed, pointed out where the swelling was. He said the bleed was not so extensive that it couldn’t be re-absorbed in maybe a month or so. He explained that the reason surgery to remove the bleed area shouldn’t be done is because you’d have to remove too much healthy tissue. He stressed that if you have to have a brain bleed, you want it in the right frontal lobe, because it significantly lessens the possibility of losing memory and other significant functions. Finally, Mom asked him to compare Thursday to Monday. When he did, he said they weren’t significantly different. He saw evidence of swelling on Monday that was only slightly more increased on Thursday.

One of the best things we heard from Dr. James is that the neuro recovery path is in waves – there will be ups and downs, and progressively the ups will increase. In other words, if Dad passes his 10 a.m. neuro quiz with flying colors but gives a significantly weaker response at 4 in the afternoon, don’t take it as a sign he’s turned for the worse. With regard to his neuro status, we have to look at this in larger increments. Good to know.

Alex and Stuart left this morning and thankfully made it home safe.