June 26 -Day 12

The day started out kind of rough for Dean. Around 2:00 this morning his heart rate and blood pressure were very high and the doctors thought he might have had a heart attack.  Thank the Lord, the tests came back negative and his heart is fine. In addition, we are thankful that, despite almost 10 days on a ventilator, x-rays showed his lungs to be clear of pneumonia.

The doctor has upgraded Dean on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) from 3 (which is terrible) to a 6 based on the movements he has seen. Movements such as rolling his head, moving his arm and hand, as well small facial responses.

Later this afternoon Dean's ICP, (brain pressure) had climbed to almost 50 again and they thought there would have to put him in a medically-induced coma to get it under control until they discovered that he was actually not getting enough oxygen and his body was retaining carbon dioxide.  As soon as they increased his respiratory rate, his ICP dropped back to 12. During this time of stress, he was taking extra breaths on his own in an attempt to get enough oxygen. Despite the pain of seeing him struggle, these are actually really good signs for his future recovery. We are excited to see him being so responsive, but now that the doctors are seeing such positive signs they will likely restrict visits, and any sensory stimulus (talking, touching, light, etc.) as much as possible to let his brain rest and recover, even if this means putting him into an induced coma.

We are so thankful to God for the improvements we are seeing in Dean. Thank you to all who are carrying this burden with us and continuing to pray for Dean's complete healing.  We know that God is hearing and answering prayer.



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