Friday Update

This may be Black Friday in the shopping world, but it’s bright Friday in Macon. (And btw, Macon, Georgia, is a pretty great town. It’s a place with great civic, educational, and medical resources. When Shea wound up here, a lot of us wondered—nervously—what kind of treatment she would receive. Well, they wouldn’t move Shea anywhere else in the world. That’s a good story.)

Shea is on a new ventilator and doing exceedingly well. Every 4-6 hours they reduce the output of the vent just a tick and Shea is picking up the slack. They have Shea on a new kind of vent—one that makes it easier to wean a patient. The respiratory therapist said that of all the people who’ve been on this new model, Shea is doing the best. “The manufacturer’s rep would love her,” he said, “she’s doing exactly what the patient is supposed to do, working perfectly with the machine—and they don’t always do that!”

Nothing new, really, on the air pocket in her abdomen. One of the Docs said that sometimes when the lungs get good and squished, as Shea’s did, some air just escapes into the cavity between the two lungs. Then it just has to dissipate on its own. There could still be a hole somewhere in her lungs—but the Dr said that if that is the case he is almost certain that it will heal itself with time. They don’t feel they need to be doing anything now but watching it. And that, of course, is a good sign.

A closer look at the CT scan of Shea’s brain shows a small area of cerebral spinal fluid near the front of her head—roughly the top of her forehead. This is not blood, and not a great cause for concern at this time. This is something they typically see in any kind of trauma case like this. There could be some edema—or swelling—at that point and that produces a small fluid build-up. There is always fluid—it’s just that this is a small pooling of it that they’re watching. The trauma surgeons we talked to said that this was not a cause for alarm and was “almost an incidental finding.” Nevertheless, any brain injury is cause for alarm when it’s your loved one! The neurosurgeons who came a bit later to see Shea concurred: the brain is stable and looks very good, and in that larger positive context this is something to watch. They said another scan in five days will tell more.

We asked how soon they could do an MRI, and their answer (tellingly) was that they didn’t think they needed one right now. It wouldn’t change the course of treatment. It did not pose any big problem at the moment, and they weren’t pressing for that right now. Their response suggests clearly that this is not something to worry about. But it is something to pray about, and Susan and Steve said today that they’d really like people to pray for healing of Shea’s brain.

Shea may have to have a tracheostomy (a breathing tube inserted through her throat).
She will likely have to have a tracheostomy before she has surgery on her face and jaw—so they can be free of the tubes that are now going through her mouth. And, the Dr said that extended intubation (through the mouth) increases the risk of pneumonia, and that if you’re going to have to do it eventually, you might as well do it sooner rather than later.

Otherwise, Shea is showing the same strong signs of recovery that we recounted yesterday. One of the nurses was telling us that they’ve had to up her sedation meds because she’s a bit too active—moving about, almost trying to sit up—and they want her to rest. Heal. So even though we all like to see the moments when they bring down the sedation and see how she responds, they want to keep dear Shea quiet—so the blessed healing that has begun in her may continue.

We met with two great social workers today, who helped us strategize about how best to deal with the boys’ school—and also how to deal with this situation for the whole family. Susan, Steve, Jeanne, Joy and I all met with them, and that was a good start. We’ll need to do more of that as this becomes more of a long-term case to manage (but that’s a good thing, considering where we were just a few days ago!). Jesse was picked up this morning by friends from their church who have a boy Jesse’s age—and they took him for the day. Jeanne and Susan took a trip to Target—this is great. Doctor’s orders are to get out of the hospital regularly: take walks, get exercise, essentially get a life! J This of course is the best gift you can give the patient.

I must leave tomorrow morning, though I would love to stay right now. Once you get here and get on this girl’s team, you don’t want to leave and miss the emerging story. But things have settled down here, and all shall be well.

David Anderson