Monday 27Jan

Today was another slower day for Brian. I saw the trauma this morning before taking Lincoln to school and they mentioned Brian may be developing pneumonia. This is very common in patients with a tracheostomy so they weren't too concerned, but it does need to be monitored and potentially treated if it is bacterial. It is so good that it was caught early on and can be treated, if necessary, right away. Pneumonia is something that would cause Brian to be transferred back to the hospital for treatment from the LTAC. To test for the pneumonia they took a sample of his secretions to test and also did a chest x-ray. I was at the hospital today until 3 (that is when I have to leave to pick up Lincoln from school) and I hadn't heard anything about the pneumonia results. That could mean that he has it and there isn't much of a change to his treatment, or it could also mean that he doesn't have pneumonia. I will hopefully be able to get more info when we go back later tonight. 

On a more positive note, Brian was acting like he was about to walk out of his bed all morning and his charge nurse suggested he may want to spend some time in the chair today so she got that all set up. He looked so comfortable in that chair. He was very tired today but seemed to really enjoy spending the majority of the afternoon in the chair. I imagine it was nice to just change it up a little bit since he has been in that bed for almost 3 straight weeks now (tonight marks 3 weeks since his accident). 

One of the occupational therapists asked me what Brian likes to do and I said coach baseball and play video games. She suggested bringing in a baseball and an old video game controller for him to play with and act as familiar stimuli. I brought the video game controller in a few days ago, but he didn't seem too interested in it. He has a stress ball which is kinda similar to a baseball that I brought in awhile back after a nurse suggested that might be good to keep his hand occupied so he doesn't mess with the trach, peg, or leads. He has attempted to throw it a few times, so a real baseball would be a no go for everyone's safety. But today after getting Brian in that chair, I gave him the video game controller and he loved it! He was holding it with both hands and pressing the buttons for hours. I took a photo because if you didn't know any different, it would look like he was just hanging out at home playing call of duty with his brother. 

🤍