Day 23

All of the neuro docs came in today and talked about the CT scan. It shows that he has absorbed some fluid on his own but only 200 ml of the 600 ml, so they have decided to do a shunt. They have to do this quickly, because the drain that he has had in his head since day one, has been in too long, and the risk of dangerous and deadly infection is very high. The sooner they can get it out the safer. The timing is just unfortunate, because he has shown that he has been able to absorb some of the fluid, and with time he would probably be able to do it completely on his own, but they cant risk leaving the drain in any longer. They are going to put in a shunt tomorrow morning, and take out the drain. We are hoping that somehow, someway he will continue to do it on his own, and the shunt wont have to do much work.

HE'S OFF THE VENT. They took him off the ventilator and attached an oxygen mask over his trach, so he is doing almost all of the breathing entirely on his own. SO SWEET! they are going to monitor it, and might switch him back on the vent, and then off, alternating, depending on how things go.

They also sat him up today! SAT HIM UP! Like, on the edge of his bed. There were about 6 people helping him and holding him up, but it was pretty awesome. Cause they haven't been able to move him at all like that yet. They started doing it twice a day so that his heart, brain and respiratory system can start recognizing movement and different positioning, and try to adjust. He did really well with it, and stayed stable the whole time.

(you can watch this video on the computer)