Thursday Afternoon Update

Here are a few of the details. The lumbar drain went in well, but her blood pressure and stress response got really bad after they started draining the cerebral spinal fluid. Part way through the night she was so agitated that it took 5 of us including a big man to hold her down so she didn't thrash around so much to pull out her drain. After that they sedated her more and those drugs didn't seem to work well because she wasn't responding to us so we could see how she was actually doing. She was having breathing problems and it just got worse. By morning (my early morning - 7 am) they had decided to take the drain out.

They had to sedate her again for removing the lumbar drain and it again made her really non-responsive and have more breathing problems. Later in the morning, I think about 10am, the doctors decided to take her off all the medicines including the pain meds so they could get her back to a baseline and get her responding to us and answering questions again.

It took a few hours for the meds to wear off, but she got back to answering questions and was talking somewhat clearly. She's still a bit slurred in her speech, but could count fingers correctly and answer questions. She'll follow directions and give an opinion (argue) which is a wonderful thing to hear. (I'm not sure I'll be saying that once we're home again.)

They got enough responses that they were able to give her morphine again and just gave her a milder sedative that really helped with the pain and her anxiety response. I'm feeling like she's getting back to where she was before the lumbar drain. It's taking some time, but she's starting to gain ground again.

She's going to have a CTV scan (a CAT scan the focuses on the veins) in a few minutes and she's finally sleeping and breathing more normally. She responds when we try to arouse her and can even help slide herself up the bed. So things aren't as worrisome as they were earlier today and last night. It's been one difficult morning.

Please keep praying for Aimee, us, her doctors and that she'll heal well. I truly appreciate all your support and love!

~Wendee