Positive news this morning. Carly had a good night last night, and they kept her on sedation. This morning they took her off sedation for 45 minutes to try and wake her, and while they couldn’t get her to open her eyes or squeeze someone’s hand, she did try to sit up in bed, she moved all her limbs and became very angry and agitated, biting on her respirator tube and trying to cough it up. She was so angry and agitated that the doctors decided to sedate her again, to make it easier for the nurses to care for her. All of these are good signs. It means that she realizes that things aren’t normal, and doesn’t want the tubes etc. in her mouth and on her. The movement and attempt to sit up also means that she has control over her arms, legs, and spine. She does have some minor swelling around the ankle that was stitched up and bruising in various places that are becoming more visible. She hasn’t had any more problems with clots, but is still on medication to thin her blood, so that her body can continue to break down what is left of the clot in the artery running along her spine at the back of her head. Bleeding is still a risk because of the medication to thin her blood.
She is also breathing more on her own! She is on the lowest respirator settings and the doctors say that she could probably breathe on her own, but they are worried that she wouldn’t be able to swallow properly. They also said that they do not usually take people off the respirator while they still have the bolt in their head to measure internal cranial pressure.
Her brain pressure continues to be OK. It does spike when she is agitated, but it quickly goes back down, which is the important thing. The doctors are keeping the bolt in to measure things, but seem optimistic that she won’t have any more pressure problems so long as there aren’t any more complications.
The doctors say that nothing good happens fast, so slow and steady progress like this is what we want.