Still in ICU

E.'s day in ICU was fairly uneventful. He has catnapped throughout the day. His eyes were only open for a few seconds here and there as he says the light hurts his head. He is still in severe amounts of pain, although he seems to be more inclined to push his morphine button now. His pain level has gotten as low as a 4, but seems to stay in the 5/6 area. Nausea as been a problem. He has vomited several times. Can you imagine the pain that vomiting puts on your head? Can you imagine the pain that vomiting puts on your head after brain surgery? Holy owie, batman. Since many people are sensitive to morphine, there is a possibility that is what is causing the nausea. So it sounds like they are going to remove the morphine IV and switch to giving him shots of Demerol and Phenergan in the hinnie.

The steroids were discontinued temporarily because of E.'s erratically high blood sugar levels. Because he seemed excessively tired and groggy though (thought possibly due to the swelling of the brain), the steroids were restarted. He does seem to be more alert with the steroids, but his blood sugar levels pay the price. E. is definitely coherent. He knows who all his visitors are and responds appropriately to questions. There's no question that the ole E. is still there . . . the cuss words are flying and so are the wise cracks.

The neuro surgeon finally came in at 8:30 pm. E. opened up his eyes, nodded an acknowledgement and put out his hand to shake the doctor's hand. When the doctor asked him to lift his arms and wave them in the air, E. complied. He then commented, "No dancing yet," which got a grin out of the doctor. The neuro surgeon informed us that the "CT scans were good." I asked about the grogginess, which he said was totally normal. He said that lots of rest is good right now. I inquired if E. would be transferred to a regular room tomorrow and his answer was, "We'll see how he's doing tomorrow."

Until tomorrow then . . .