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June 22, 2005
June 21, 11:30 PM
sorry for the delays in postings today. i spent the night in asher's room last night and he had a pretty good night. he seemed tired this morning and was not able, or would not respond to the commands that he had the day before (closing his eyes and sticking out his tongue). this was not discouraging at all, though. in fact the rest of the day was all very encouraging. his trauma doctor ordered his trach opening to be reduced so that it could be capped. what this means is that asher is off the wall ct oxygen line. he just has a small amount of oxygen going to him in a nose line. this means that he is breathing through his nose and mouth now, and his blood oxygen level is staying between 95 and 100 percent. amazing. we are so incredibly thankful.
they finally were able to get asher sitting back up today. soon after sitting him up they took him down to take a swallow test in order to see if he can start taking food orally. he did not due well on that today basically due to his tongue being at the back of his throat, but they did find that all his muscles that it takes to swallow are all in good working order. we have actually seen him swallowing, but for some reason he didn't do it when he went for his test.
peter boehm, asher's neuro doctor came by to see asher today while gloria was in the room. he was very encouraging and told her not to lose faith. dr boehm saw asher in the emergency room the night he fell, and he was the one who first broke the news to us about the severity of asher's injuries. there has always been such a kindness and genuine display of concern by him to us for asher that has helped us through this in so many ways. Lord bless him.
asher's trauma doctor, who had his trach opening changed today, also said that it is really time for asher to be moved to another facility that can begin working on asher's rehabilitation. please pray for this process and the doors to open for the best place for asher to be next. this will be a very big and important move and will probably mean going out-of-town.
things seem to be moving so fast since asher left icu. even his nurses today commented on the fact that they can see improvement in asher just in the short time that he has been in this unit. also, since they put the cap on his trach, he is now able to make sound. he hasn't been able to form words yet, but it seems like he is trying really hard to do this. it is just so incredible to even hear him making sounds now after not hearing any sounds at all coming out of him since may 23rd.
when i left him to come back home with hadrienne tonight (gloria is staying with him) he had begun to raise his left arm up higher and more deliberately than he has ever done so far. it seems like he is doing this out of frustration, like he is waking up more and consequently he is more aware of what his condition is. many coma patients, as they are coming out of their comas and becoming more responsive, hit a level of consciousness where they can be really angry and abusive. please pray that asher will not have to go through this, and can channel that anger and abusiveness into working in more positive ways with those who are trying to help him to get better.
Lord bless you all for keeping the prayer fires burning brightly for our family,
ready for a good nights sleep,
andy mendonsa
| By Andy Mendonsa | 10:55 AM
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