Mom's Update

Courtney did very well on pressure support on the ventilator yesterday. She was breathing on her own from 9am - 6pm.

Despite the painful procedure of having a new chest tube put in all of her vital signs remained stable and she slept comfortably through the night.

At 6am today the respiratory therapist changed the ventilator setting again back to pressure support. This is all part of the process of wheening Courtney off the ventilator.

At our request, Drs cancelled a medication that Courtney was receiving that we believed were causing adverse side effects such as sweating, tightness and cramping in the jaw, arms and legs. We have seen a relief in those symptoms since the medication was cancelled.

It may seem confusing to you when you read comments like 'Courtney slept well' when she is in a coma. People have asked 'is she awake?' The waking up process is in most cases very slow.

There are times when Courtney is alert - her eyes are open and she follows people as they enter and leave the room. She will listen intently to whomever is talking to her. We have seen what could be a nod from her on occassion and her facial expression will change slightly from time to time.

Courtney's arms and legs and entire body move well. However, her brain is not communicating - comanding the rest of her body. While she can hear us say 'move your leg' or 'touch my hand' she is not able to follow those commands. She also is not yet speaking.

Doctors perform neurological exams on her at least once a day to see what stage of the waking up process she is at. The next stage is following commands and beginning to speak or at least attempt to speak.

We pray every day that we will soon see those signs.