Seizures

When we returned to see Mike yesterday afternoon, he was non-responsive again. The only time he was really moving any body parts was when he was having seizures, and he was having a good many of them. The doctors put him on Versed (ver-sed) last night to control the seizures and it appears to be helping thus far. The drawback to the Versed is that it’s a sedative, so he’ll sleep and we won’t know if he can do anything or not. He needs to go 24 hours with no seizures before they take him off of the medication. After that we will find out if he can respond to commands. I don’t know what the options will be if the Versed doesn’t control his seizures or if he’s still non-responsive after being off it.

On another note, I do want to say how absolutely wonderful the doctors (and entire staff) are here. It is a dramatic difference from what we experienced in Columbia. We paged the doctor yesterday to see what time he thought he would be by in the afternoon because we had to leave to change hotels, and he asked what time would be good for me. How nice is that? Even the doctor we saw on Monday when we went in for the clinical visit has been by every day to check on us and Mike, and she’s not even considered to be his main doctor at this point. While it would have been nice to get up here last week so that we would probably not be in this predicament, we are extremely blessed that Mike was scheduled to be at Duke when all of this happened. I firmly believe he has the best care available in the country here.

One other thing…I seem to be getting a more regular cell phone signal now, so if you leave me a message, I should be able to get back in touch with you.

A Good Sign

Your prayers are working! Mike had been completely unresponsive, but he is now moving his feet on command. He had not moved his legs at all since Monday night until just a short while ago. We’re a LONG way from getting where we need to be (he’s still not moving his arms), but this is a fantastic start. Please keep praying.

More Waiting

Things are still not looking good. Last night we became a little hopeful after talking with the neuro-oncologist. She said Mike’s rapid decline may have been caused by a seizure, and it would take a while for him to recover from that. He was able to squeeze my finger, move his thumb a little, and move his tongue around as if the tubes were bothering him. He had not done any of that earlier in the day. Unfortunately, this morning he is non-responsive again. The doctor wants to try to give it another 24 hours and see if there is any improvement.