Tuesday update
Okay, I've been to see Matt and his wife. I told Matt that he's gone too far in trying to empathize with Ariel Sharon. I was hoping for a laugh. Or maybe even a slug in the arm for being so awful. I didn't get either.
The movement I saw Matt make wasn't exactly purposeful, but it's movement.
His tongue was very purple yesterday and is now a bit pinker. You're thinking, how on earth would you know that? Well, his tongue sticks out just a bit. The tubes that are coming out of his mouth sort of push the tongue to the side.
His labs looked good. He was given blood with his dialysis yesterday and that helped his numbers. They're holding steady. Today's dialysis required no removal of excess fluids. Yes! That's awesome news! But that part can change rapidly.
Blood pressure (BP) was a bit elevated when I saw him. Not terribly high, though. The ICP was lower, just not as low as I was expecting/hoping.
The EEG will probably be done tomorrow, but it's not 100%. The angiogram and CT will wait because Matt's still too unstable to withstand that. He can take the head of the bed moving up and down a bit, but side to side is too much.
The nurse and the respiratory therapist were at bedside when I was able to see Matt. Both were fantastic! I watched with my nurse's eye as they performed their tasks. They had no idea I was a nurse so there was no special performance for my sake. Not only were they thorough, they were exceptionally attentive to detail, checking everything. It was great to see them in action.
He has a fever. This isn't unexpected. Considering that thermoregulation occurs in the brain, any trauma (like surgery) can cause temps to fluctuate. There is no sign of infection. Blood cultures have been negative thus far. This is good news. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this remains the case.
Little Dude wanted to go in and see him, but we told him he was too young still. He was very upset by the news. Matt's one of LD's favorite people. Matt's daughter is another special person in LD's life. They were able to hang out this afternoon and it did them both a world of good.
It's tough to be a and faced with so much fear and uncertainty. That's why friends and family are so important.
Which brings me to my next point. Matt's family. Some of you have emailed asking me why we've talked only about his in-laws. Well, there's a very good reason for that. Matt's mom is currently battling lung cancer. She's already been through chemo and radiation and they're preparing her for hospice. As you can imagine, his brothers have been pretty busy dealing with that. His sister will come if things take a turn for the worse. His father passed away not long ago. And his step-mother is down in Florida at this time.
All he really has is Mrs. Matt and his daughter, Mrs. Matt's family, and us. Friends do a great job picking up where family leaves off many times. And that's what we do. Especially for the good guys like Matt.
We managed to arrange for a ticket for Mrs. Matt's mom. If you'd like to contribute to that fund (to reimburse the generous soul who purchased it so we could move forward), or to contribute to any other portion of the bills that need to be paid, head on over to Smash's site. We're going to assemble the list of expenses that need to be covered tomorrow and we'll get that list online as soon as we can. Smash has been chosen to handle the finances because, let's face it, he's honest as hell.