Joye's Update 4/10/08

Well today, for the most part, was uneventful. Andrew rested and rested and then rested some more. His sedation has been increased and they only take him out of it to do assessments. During the times he was awake, I was able to read him all of the posts to his blog and he was happy to hear from all of you. I could see from his expressions that he was touched by all that was written and he would smile at some of the "private" jokes. He knew exactly what they all meant :) There is still no plan for getting him off the ventilator, the neurosurgeon is not ready to take him off as he does not want to risk taking him off and then soon after possibly having to put him back on which may risk the surgery site area getting damaged. He'd rather wait a while to give it a chance to heal as Andrew had 2 surgeries in 3 days. The assessments didn't bring any new news. He still has feeling down to the same places he had yesterday. I'm really hoping this good day of rest will help with healing and more feeling. He's still hanging in there tough . . . not a glimmer of doubt. We've learned to speak a new language with his eyes. If he squints hard, he needs me to wash his eyes with a damp cloth; if he starts shaking his head "no" (which he can only slightly do with the neck brace on), he's having trouble breathing; if he scrunches his nose up, he's in pain; if he stares up and raises his eye brows he wants the TV channel changed, and my favorite . . . if he blinks 3 times slowly, he's telling me he loves me. Thank you again for all of your posts; he was so happy to hear from you, but most of all thank you so much for your prayers . . . keep that up and we're home free! I'm going to get my shower (the hospital lets me do that here), and get to sleep early tonight . . . Andrew's still sleeping soundly. Good Night and God bless you all! Joye

Visiting Update

I wanted to let everyone know the status of Andrew being able to see visitors for the time being. His doctors believe he is in need of much more rest. He isn't going to be able to come off the ventilator for a while longer and they are going to up his sedation to give him better rest, as the last couple of days of trying to breath and a lot of visitors has set him back slightly. Andrew is still in critical care and I'm going to follow whatever his doctors feel is best for him. And the orders for today are rest and more rest. Please understand that they aren't trying to keep people from seeing him . . . they're acting in the best interest of his recovery. I was able to let Andrew know that there was a concern that he wasn't resting enough and I told him what the plan is and he had a huge look of relief on his face . . . he knows he needs the rest. Thank you for you understanding, I will post again tonight to update you on how his day went. God bless, Joye