Day 36

Hi to everyone who reads this (Isn't "hi" a weird word?"),

Today I did not go to the hospital again, but my sister and mom spent most of the day there. They had a surprise waiting for them when they got there. As they walked in Dad's bed was empty, but they turned the little corner and had been moved so he was sitting in a chair! We knew they wanted to do it, but we didn't know when they would do it. They move him by rolling him to one side and putting a sling/hammock thing under him, and let him lie back down on it. The sling attaches to a small lift at three points. One by each shoulder, and one coming up between the legs. The lift picks him up, and swings around and gently puts him in his special chair. This chair is a big recliner and they have a foam pad for him to sit on. I bet it tired him out being moved around like that, but hopefully he will get more used to it.
More good news, the cafeteria gave out free lunch today!

Yesterday, the hospitals main doctor ordered an MRI on Dad because they are worried about possible damage done to the occipital lobe of the brain, which is where vision is processed. So far, to the doctors, dad has given no indication that he can see. So they want to see if they can see anything in the MRI. The doctors push their hand rapidly toward dads eyes trying to get him to blink. So far he has not, although I was doing it one time, and thought I saw his eyelids flinch slightly. There was some problems though, that I don't understand. When the ambulance team came to get him to take him to St. Anthony's hospital for the MRI they started putting a magnet on the external fixator which is magnetic. Magnetic objects are not allowed in or near the MRI machine. So they called St. Anthony's who told the team that he would not be allowed to get and MRI. This is confusing and a little frustrating for me. I want him to get another MRI. He has already had one! He even had the old external fixator on at that time, and it went half way up his thigh. This new one stops around his knee. I don't get how they could do an MRI with the metal object 6-8 inches closer to his head and not now. My best guess, but haven't been able to ask anyone yet is that the MRI machines are different. Perhaps Littleton Hospital has a smaller MRI machine just for heads? Then why can't they take him back to Littleton? Anyway, that was a small bit of drama in Kindred yesterday.

Yesterday, while Angie was there, she told dad, "Stick out your tongue." After a few seconds of processing time he did. She felt like it was deliberate. There were other times when she did the same thing and he didn't. She still saw his tongue moving a little bit, like he was trying to. Hopefully he will stick out his tongue when the neurologists come again. I feel like we have seen more responses than they have, partly because we might make him a bit tired before they get there.

I have noticed he is more responsive in the morning. When we visit in the evening he almost never seems aware at all. I understand some people have been a little confused by my definition of responsive so by responsive, I mean he moves his EYES to the direction of the sound a little bit. Not his whole head. On Friday when Dr. Cilo was there my mom and I stood on either side of him and alternately asked him to look at us. They told us, don't politely ask. Don't say, "Can you move your tongue? " or "Do you want to move your tongue?" but just say, "Move your tongue." This is more commanding and requires less brain processing. He doesn't have to think about if it is a question, or if he wants to. It is just simpler. Anyway, we were standing on either side of him and when mom would command him to look at her, just his eyes moved to look at her for a second, maybe two seconds and then they would drift back to center. Then I commanded him to look at me. He moved his eyes to the direction of my voice and again, held for a second and then drift back. This is different than his typical eye movement which is roving back and forth. This is typical in brain injured patients. He even does it when his eyes are closed. There are times when his eyes open on their own. When they are open he seems to do a bit more. He cannot give a thumbs up on command. Mild pain stimulus has not usually gotten a response out of him. I have never had an IV to my knowledge, but I did see him pulling away from a new IV needle back when he was in Littleton Hospital. He can move his left arm when stimulated by pain, or when Dr. Cilo pinched his nipples. But only an inch or two. His right arm is still in a cast and he has moved it before, we think because he was uncomfortable. I hope that gave people a more clear picture of what I mean by responsive.

Please feel free to make comments at the bottom of each post, especially if you have questions about his responsiveness. I will answer as many as I can.

This is not news on Dad, but on MRI's in general. Many will know this already, but for those who don't MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Image. It should technically be called Nuclear Magnectic Resonance Image. The person is put in a tube and in that body of the tube are very powerful magnets. They create a strong magnetic field that passes throught the body (this is not bad or harmful, we are constantly in the earth's magnetic field). As this field is passing through our bodies the hydrogen atoms in our body align to that field. Then using radio waves (no you don't hear your radio station in the tube) they can alter the hydrogen atoms rotation which can be detected. From the detected alterations they are able to create an image of whatever they were aiming for. Chemists use NMR all the time for determining the structure of molecules, but their results are graphs with peaks which tell them where the hydrogen atoms are in an organic molecule (molecules made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sometimes sulfer, and a lot of hydrogen) and from that information they can determine where the hydrogens the hydrogens are and how many in various places in the molecule. Nerdy science stuff, but I gotta tell someone otherwise my classes will be a waste.