Day 26 (Sep 20)

 


Tobias rested well again today.  His left eye was open sporadically, but he only responded one time with a feeble thumb movement.  The physical therapist thinks that Tobias was tired from the PT work yesterday.  The two PT folks from yesterday had Tobias sitting on the side of the bed with his feet on the floor.  Given his condition, this was a huge undertaking and has exhausted him.  I interpret his open eye as the time where he is awake and he seems to add to his total wakefulness more each day.

The main neurosurgeon came by today to answer some questions that Katja texted him.  It surprised me, but they are not going to put Tobias back on the brain stimulants.  He said that they are concerned that it will start another storming session and they want to avoid this, especially in an LTAC.  He confirmed that an LTAC is the next logical step for Tobias.  LTAC stands for long-term acute care.  These are mini-hospitals that care for patients who need a long time to recover.  He said it isn't practical to hold a bed in the hospital when Tobias needs long-term care.  An LTAC will also provide more physical therapy and speech therapy for Tobias than the hospital offers.  We've actually had a great physical therapist come by every day here so we would be happy for Tobias to stay here.  On the other hand, I see that Tobias needs time to heal and so our next focus is to find the right LTAC.  The neurosurgeon said that if Tobias' rehabilitation is a marathon, we are still in the first two minutes.  I hope he was being melodramatic.  We've been here about a month already.  That would make his total rehabilitation time take about ten years.  I don't think we'll have to wait that long to see what Tobias' new normal is.  

I'm starting to work again.  My time will remain focused on Tobias and Katja for some weeks yet, but I'm no longer consumed by the situation and I can see that much of our future will be waiting for Tobias to show us that he is ready for the next step(s).  It will do me good to be productive again in addition to caring for Tobias.

Katja is feeling better and wants to join me tomorrow in the hospital again.

Hope over fear.

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Thanks for leaving a comment. We appreciate and enjoy your well wish and the thoughts you are sharing with us. Love, The Dunn's

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