Day 3 of Jim's Recovery

    Friday, November 7th, the days just seem to mix together. I keep forgetting what day it is and what happened yesterday. Well, again this is just a waiting game and I know that you are as anxious as we are to see some kind of breakthrough, there were a couple incidences, but the doctors feel he is the same. 

     We spoke to the doctor this evening and she said there are no changes in Dad's status. This is a good thing because they believe that the bleeding and swelling have not gotten worse. The Doctors will not be giving Dad another CT scan unless he goes downhill drastically. They don't like to give patients that much exposure to radiation. So we don't know if the bleeding has gotten worse. If it has it is not affecting him enough we need to be alarmed. The nurses and doctors watch pupil dilation, blood work, oxygen level, and heart rate to determine how he is progressing. The doctors biggest concern right now is clearing the liquid in his lungs. They have him on respiratory therapy and continue to try to suction out the fluid moving up from his lungs. They have put in some sort of plug in his nose to help move the suction tube down his throat because he continues to bite down when things are put in his mouth. 

     Now as the pain medication will wear off the nurses wait some time to give him more. They like to see how he is responding and if he can communicate. Later this afternoon, Erin, Mom, and I were at the hospital and he began to open his eyes. This is so much better from yesterday because he was hardly opening them at all. We were all talking to him and I bent down so that I was close to his face. He looked at me and I said "Hey, Dad it's Jamie" and it seemed like he smiled!! He does a lot of grimacing like he is uncomfortable or in pain so I can't be certain. But, to me it seemed like a directed grin, plus he didn't show his teeth which he does if he is grimacing. Again, this is all awesome but the Doctors have to remind us that today and tomorrow are the critical days. Maybe they have to say that so they don't get sued if things do go wrong. Pray for Dad tomorrow so that he can get over this hump. 

     Well, later in the evening around 9:00PM I decide to go back to the hospital. I was in SLC and didn't want to leave until I got a chance to go see him. When I got there the nurse said she was going to give him some more pain medication but would wait to see if he would respond to me being there. He began to open his eyes and look around quite a bit. As the nurse was examining him and talking to him I piped up and said Hi to him. Dad then turned away from the nurse to look towards the sound of my voice. Usually he doesn't turn his head unless the nurses pinch him. I was so happy! He looked right at me but the look was more like a look of trying to comprehend something he should know. If we could hear what he was saying I would interpret the look as "I think I know you." After that I couldn't leave so I just kept talking to him. 

     At one point I decided to sing him a song, I sang "Daddy won't you swing me." At first he kept his eyes shut and wasn't responding but by the time I reached the last verse he looked at me for a few seconds then grimaced. Again, most likely he grimaced due to the pain but I felt and wanted to interpret it as if he were sad because I was singing him that song! For those of you who don't know the song, Dad wrote "Swing Me" because he used to push us kids in the great big tire swing in my backyard. I can remember sitting downstairs in WVC as he wrote and changed and fixed the song to what it is today. 

    

     Anyway, I don't know if his eyes were watering or if he got tears but I swear I made some connections tonight. I just pray that it's not wishful thinking. So tomorrow we will be cleaning and moving my parents stuff into their house. We could use all the help we can get, so if you would like to come text one of us for the address. I'm really anxious for tomorrow to be over with so that we know for sure Dad is on the mend.