Day Three

Today was a productive day with seemingly good news.  Overnight seemed to go well for his nurse Trisha, who was ready to accept all the challenges James was willing to put up.  Trisha let me know that he had a good night other than right around the time I walked in this morning (about 4:30am) while they were trying to do his chest x-ray.

James had an additional CT Scan first thing this morning, which showed less swelling than his scan on Sunday morning.  So what that meant for James is that his "bolt" (pressure monitor) and his drain could be removed.  I left around 8 am to bring Nate to school and returned about noon time and he looked like a whole new person.  No more bolt, no more drain and no more bandages!  He is beginning to look like James again.  When I came back to the hospital the room was full of nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and specialists.  They were doing a test to see if James could also be removed from the ventilator. 

His chest x-ray very early this morning was to determine if his lungs were strong enough to be removed from the vent.  They were also looking for fluid.  They found some fluid on the left side of his lungs, but decided that if he did ok on his removal test then they would remove the vent.  He ended up falling asleep once he was allowed to breath on his own.  So they decided to leave the vent in for one more day and try again tomorrow morning. 

James has been a power house with them and it has been a continual struggle to find the right medications and the magic dosage to keep him calm and comfortable.  This afternoon they seemed to have found it.  They were able to re-tape his vent and get him a fairly good position to get in some additional rest.  They also began some respiratory therapy for him, matched with a diuretic to help flush some of the additional fluid from his body.  Jillian and Brendan had another full day of excitement with Mr. James.

Tomorrows plan is to re-assess his ventilator and see if we can take him off.  Once that happens we can wake him up and see what happens.  We are continuing to watch his movements, making sure that they are purposeful and he is in control of them.  The neurologist also is very interested in his speech.  As the portion of his brain that was injured affects his speech.  I can't wait to hear his voice again.  This morning I watched a video I took of him on Saturday morning just to hear his voice. 

The news continues to be promising and I just continually look forward to what comes next.  I've seen him come so far since Saturday night, I'm just in awe.  I continue to be overwhelmed by the kind words, prayers for James and our family, as well as the outpouring of positive energy coming our way. Please continue to pray and send your positive thoughts for James.  He still has a long road ahead.

I hope to bring Nathan to see James as soon as his vent is out, but in the mean time Nathan has been making some amazing things for James' room. 

Hopefully I continue to have great news to report tomorrow! xoxo