Saturday May 16th 2009:

Will, I can't believe it's been almost one week since your accident. Where have the days gone? You are still sedated on Propofol and Fentanyl drips (15 & 150 mcgs for us medical folks). You are still doing well on the vent, still on "pressure support" (down to 8/5) so you are doing most of the work yourself. You are still having fevers and you still have secretions in your lungs so the plan is to keep you on the vent for another day/night and MAYBE try to get your breathing tube out tomorrow. But I have a gut feeling you will hang onto it for another day or so. You are getting antibiotics so hopefully they will clear up the pneumonia. You most likely "aspirated" at the scene of the accident. This means that because you had a loss of consciousness some of your stomach contents may have gotten into your lungs. Respiratory complications are very common with spinal cord injury patients. This will most likely not be the last time you deal with pneumonia. Today you also had to have some blood transfusions. You dropped your hematocrit to 21. We hope you are not bleeding, you don't show any other signs of bleeding. Sometimes fluid will shift into your bloodstream and "dilute" your blood counts. Hopefully that is the explanation. You need to get back on a blood thinner but you can't be on one until it is sure that you are not bleeding. You have many different docs looking after you, including the hematologists who will make recommendations about how to manage your clotting times. The goal is to get you back on Coumadin when it is safe. Hopefully tomorrow your chest tube will come out. Today I was there and Auntie also came to see you and give me a ride back to the Cape. You did open your eyes a few times, but still did not want to follow any commands. I am hoping tomorrow you will be on less sedation. I washed your hands and put some Aveeno cream on them. I also finished trimming your toenails and I had a good laugh at myself because the clippings were flying all over the room- gross! :) You had some beautiful flowers in your room from your friend Liz. That's about it for today. I am back in Chatham tonight and I actually got out for a quick run which was very therapeutic. I ran into Edson while I was running towards Eastward Ho and we ran together for a bit and talked. It was good for me and he is thinking of you. Mom didn't sleep well last night so she went to bed pretty early tonight. Tomorrow Heidi is driving me back up to see you and I will spend the night in Somerville at my old apartment with my friends. Can't wait to see you tomorrow. We love you. - Emi