Today Aidan had PT again to maintain/increase his range of motion and also to stretch his muscles. He gets tight from just laying there, especially his chest. Its’ painful for him, he winces his face and you can tell he’s in pain and difficult to watch since you know it’s hurting him. He was able to push back on the therapist’s hand with his leg, but this also obviously was causing him great discomfort.
Tomorrow we are hoping that they will remove the breathing tube, as a result of lowering the vent to 10. Over the past few days they have titrated the vent down, so that he can learn to breathe on his own again.
Day 2 of the 2nd round of plasmapheresis. The specialists are pleased with his progress. Remember we are adding good antibodies (the plasmapheresis) to his body to help heal his nerves, specifically the mylan. It was expected that his upper body would rebound quicker in part because the nerves are shorter and closer to the brain stem and spine. His lower nerves are housed in the bottom of his spine and are different in shape. They resemble the swoop in a horse’s tail and due to the shape it takes longer to heal. These nerves are responsible for his legs. So that’s why we have not seen as much improvement in his lower body. Monday will be his last day of plasmapheresis and the doctors are expecting him to be very responsive. Even though there is less movement in his lower body he did wiggle his left toes.
His eyes are open more often now and for longer periods of time. You feel like he can understand you, and partly he does, but he is still on a lot of medication. He’ll have no memory of this; his amnesia only allows him to remember in 5 minute increments.
Aidan is now off of the Nicarpodine (which regulated his blood pressure). His BP is normal and steady.
He will be starting methadone in the next day or so, in order to prevent withdrawals from all the narcotics/opiates he’s received over the last 2½ weeks.
He watched TV for the first time last night. He enjoyed his iCarly and Sponge Bob videos that were a gift from his Auntie Colleen.
He had a pet therapy dog named Jimmy visit him today. Jimmy was partly up on Aidan’s bed with his two front paws and we had Aidan pet Jimmy. We know if Aidan were fully aware of Jimmy he’d be thrilled as he loves his dog Casey.
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