He is breathing on his own with only minimal supplemental oxygen. His vitals have remained stable, even through numerous “wake up assessments”, which used to send his vitals sky high. He is responding to our voices and making purposeful and deliberate movements with both arms, hands, legs, feet/toes and eyes. He moves his head around and lifts that left eyebrow he has always been able to lift in that “say what?” manner. So awesome. He is on minimal pain meds, and they are transitioning him from IV to the transdermal patch of a lower dose.
His white cell count is within normal range, lung X-ray looks good, negative for infection from the csf (cerebral spinal fluid) collected in the lumbar puncture. His gall bladder looks good; they did an ultrasound on that this morning. It’s a little gunky but that’s to be expected from a guy who loves his green chili cheeseburgers from MacDonald’s!
I read your messages to him again, and he was awake and moving around the whole time, and squeezing my hand.
It’s a long road ahead, but today has been a day for lifted spirits, and reminders to be thankful for every little thing.