Looking Up!

Jessica is wide open getting ready to embark on her new career as a school teacher (teaching eighth grade math at Grovetown Middle School) so I am going to do my best to keep the blog updated for a while. This post will be a little longer than usual as I try and bring you up to date with all that has happened this week.

Judi is off the ventilator! The standard protocols were just not working for her and it did not appear that she was having any real trouble breathing on her own. We finally just took her off the ventilator (under intense observation) and she never missed a beat. I will admit that it took a couple of days before I could relax and not count every breath she took.

We were also able to get her cleared from the neck brace after all. Kudos to the MCG team for that! They kept evaluating her condition and determined it was safe and beneficial for her to start regaining strength in her neck muscles. She is still exploring that new freedom and we are watching her closely to ensure she doesn't over do it.

Judi's movement of her hands and feet continue to improve as well. She is strongest on her right side which is expected since the majority of her brain injury manifested itself on the right side. Most of you know that the right side of the body is controlled by the left side of the brain and vice versa. This was the reason we were so concerned that the shunt had to be installed in the left side of her brain since there had not been any visible damage there.

We have made the decision to put the bone flap back in that was removed during her craniotomy back in April. We believe this will allow her brain to move back to its "natural" orientation and provide the best environment for it to continue to heal. It will also be much safer for Judi as she continues the recovery process. This will be a long surgery for Judi and we anticipate that there will be some issues restoring the fluid balance in her head following the replacement. This could require additional surgery and/or manipulation of the shunt that was installed, but we'll deal with that as necessary. I also anticipate that this will be one of those emotional roller coasters from a scheduling perspective in the Operating Room. Since it will be a long surgery, it will be difficult to get and maintain an open window due to all of the critical cases that come to MCG. We will also have to put Judi back on the ventilator for the surgery. I am confident though that she will continue to be the fighter she has been from the start and continue to step up when she needs to.

There has been a lot of good news this week, but we have a long way to go. Judi is still in the ICU and needs all of your prayers. I don't have the words to describe how critical they have been to our family. I can say that there have been several days that I only made it by drawing on the strength of those prayers and it is obvious that God is watching over Judi as she recovers.

Thanx for the continued support,
Steve