Tuesday 11February

 

Brian was able to break out of his room today! This was so nice and Brian really seemed to love it and be able to see something other than the 4 walls of his room. It did kinda piss off the therapists though because we didn't follow their schedule, oops! 😬 So I'm not sure if we will be able to do this again while at Good Samaritan. 

The therapists were rightfully upset we did this walkabout because it made Brian too wiped out for their therapy sessions. This made it so we had to skip the swallow study that was planned for today (they actually tried to plan for two different times, the first we scrapped because of Brian's exhaustion and the second we got pushed by radiology and figured Brian would most likely be too tired by that time) but it will be moved to tomorrow. Brian has to be awake and able to follow commands for the study to be effective. So today was a no go for that. Hope for a wakeful Brian tomorrow! 

Today respiratory took Brian off the humidified oxygen for our walkabout and Brian did great (he was mainly on this for the humidity, but the oxygen is also helpful of course). The trauma team also switched out Brian's trach to one that is slightly smaller, but the main difference is there isn't a cuff on this one. This means is there is no longer the balloon on the inside that is inflated/deflated for the speaking valve. So with this new trach Brian's breathing will feel "more normal" and he can potentially spend more and more time using the speaking valve. This evening, respiratory also changed out the speaking valve to a solid cap. This does not allow any air through the trach anymore. As long as Brian stays strong in his breathing and doesn't desat, he will be able to keep this cap on and won't need the humidifed oxygen anymore either. This step is the last step to fully removing his trach. I don't know the timeline for that, but slow and steady recovery, just like usual. 😊 

As for LTAC, no updates there. We are still waiting for a bed to open for Brian. They said hopefully their patient will discharge tomorrow so our hope is now that Brian will get transferred by the end of the week. Patience is a virtue and I am getting a strong lesson in. 

One final note: speech gave us this document that explains cognitive functioning after traumatic brain injuries. I want to link it here for everyone to see. This not only provides behaviors Brian is going to exhibit, but it also provides a nice list of what family and friends should do in order to help Brian in his recovery. This also doesn't mean that Brian will exhibit all the behaviors in the final level also. In Brian's current status, they said patients usually fluctuate between levels and can be spread across a couple different ones. He seems to be around a level 3 & 4. Rancho Family Guide

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