Day 13 (Sep 8)

Today is a special day for our family.  Our youngest son, Sebastian, is headed to college and I've never had the honor of dropping off one of my children at their university.  Today that injustice was righted.  Tobias has been stable and we wanted Sebastian to know how excited we are to see him take this step.  The nurses and doctors looked after Tobias with my mother and sister sitting at Tobias’ side.  Katja and I checked in on Tobias throughout the day, but our focus for today was to celebrate Basti's fledging.  We’ll miss him.  He’s a great son and a wonderful person.  Every time we moved, Basti made friends quickly.  We’d be one week in the new place and Basti would have invitations to three birthday parties.  He's the Will Rogers of children.  It's nice for us during so much angst and fear to experience a joyful occasion.  Good luck in college Basti!  (work hard, be yourself, we love you)

5:00 am check in: I usually check in with the hospital once during the night to get an update on Tobias. This morning I called at 5am.  The nurse read me correctly or is just naturally my kind of nurse.  He was kind and considerate, and was clear and straight to the point.  Tobias had a good night.  He stormed off and on, but his vital signs were mild for storming.  His heart rate fluctuated between 90 and 120 and his blood pressure was steady without specific BP medication at 140.  His NPi (pupil reaction) values were intermittent, but sometimes brisk.  His reactions to verbal commands and pinching are still hit and miss, but some hits are pronounced and encouraging.  Bottom line… he is trending slowly in a positive direction toward consciousness, but it will be some time before we have a clear picture regarding his higher level brain functions.

My mom visited Tobias in the morning and my sister Lisa stayed with Tobias for the rest of the day.  My sister was kind enough to give the update on his condition.

Lisa's update:

Today’s update on Tobias. Today was different for many reasons, the first day that Tyler and Katja did not spend their day at the hospital with Bias as they took Sebastian to college.  I am sure that it was hard for them to be away, but it was important to be celebrating this beginning for Basti.  

My mother & Ed (my mom's husband) got to spend the morning with Tobias and witness all the work happening at the hospital. The medical staff were able to take Bias off the ventilator for an hour and Bias was able to breathe on his own. 

I, Tante Lisa, was able to spend the rest of the day with Bias. Speaking to him, reading to him, playing music for him (really for myself). I am sure that all my questions for the nurse slowed her down a little, but she was so kind and patient.  In the afternoon, they were able to take him off the ventilator for almost two hours. The respiratory therapist also answered every question with the same amount of care and patience. At one point, his arm came up and his pointer finger was straight in the air, I told him to raise the other finger, because he deserved to tell us all this wasn’t right. He didn’t listen to me. 

It was an emotional time for me, I wanted his pain to be taken away and for him to be able to relax his muscles.  

In the evening his heart rate and blood pressure spiked, but with meds he evened out right away. It was at shift change and I think he wanted his nurse to stay.