Day 103 (Dec 3)

It's 6:45pm and Tobias is resting comfortably with a heart rate of 75.  The neuro team performed an angiogram on Tobias at 1pm and kept him until 4pm for observation.  The neurosurgeon found me before the procedure to let me know that everything was ready to go, which was a thoughtful gesture, and he followed up after the angiogram to give me a report on the results.  He suggested that I wait for him in the seating area of the rehab hospital cafe and he even sat down with me for a quick chat to make sure that we are all right and that he answered all our questions.  I think he was also just being personable and considerate.  Tobias' angiogram was clean.  The doctor told me that he has the blood vessels of a twenty-two year old in his brain and that there is no evidence of any bleeding risk for Tobias.  From his perspective, it looks like whatever caused the bleed was a singularity.  The doctor still doesn't know what caused the bleed.

The angiogram was the last thing holding up the transport to Germany.  The information will be shared with the insurance company doctors in Germany and the medical transport for Tobias will hopefully be arranged overnight.  With luck we'll have a schedule flight and a confirmation that I can fly with Tobias when I arrive at the hospital in the morning.  I was told that arranging the flight is a 24x7 operation and neither the weekend nor the night will cause a delay.  Tobias should be able to fly on Monday.  I'll become a believer when they confirm the departure date and time.

The angiogram didn't interfere with Tobias' therapies this morning.  He had a full schedule of therapies.  He was able to speak out loud during the earliest therapy and he received his highest score on the Coma Recovery Scale test.  His initial score was a 3 and his highest score to day was 18, today he scored 21.  The therapists did use my trick to let him sip some cold water when speaking was required, but this was all that was needed to perform more of the required tasks that ever before.

I had a friend and a group of friends come visit to catch up before I return to Germany.  I am lucky to have good friends.  They have been helping me focus on what's important in life as well as making me laugh since high school.  I appreciate our long-term connection.  I feel rooted in the place I grew up and loyal to the friends who shared these formative high school years with me.  It takes a community to raise a child and I was raised in a great community with many good examples of honest and ethical behavior, much of which came from my close and extended friendships.  Revisiting these friendships online or in person over the past three months has been an anchor to hold the ship fast when the storms came.

Hope over fear.