Monday, January 18, 2010

Monday 18th Jan

Whoa, what a day. It started with my girls going in to see Joel at the start of visiting time and they had a big scare coz they went into the room and he had vanished. Being simply human, at those moments we tend to jump to wrong conclusions. No staff helped, but they found Joel stuck in a room of his own and that is actually good news. It means his medical condition has progressed to the point that he doesn’t need 24 hour observation. Then they saw that he was slumped in a chair not looking too flash! But he had just been plonked in a lazy boy to give him a change from those real comfy hospital beds. By the time I got in he had been straightened up and was looking comfortable. And there he sat all day snoring! Not one moment of awakeness at all, just sleeping and snoring…even when they sawed the plaster cast off his foot! Apparently this is just what he needs (not the snore but the sleep). He now has no breathing monitors or heart or oxygen monitors. He still has a drip line in his arm for medication and the food tube in the nose and the ‘other tube’. So we sat with him and his other visitors and prayed and watched him sleep. Hard for mum, dad and sister coz we want him to talk and answer back and be smart …but he will! Before we got there he had seen the doctors, the nurses had bathed him and the physio had given him a workout so we aren’t surprised that he slept so much.

Then we met with some lady who was in charge of organizing his rehabilitation for when he moves from hospital and this is when we got the next ‘whoa’ of the day. The time frame they are talking about now that his condition is stabilizing is just a matter of about a week. Flip… just a week. We were shocked coz he isn’t talking or eating or moving much…but apparently the hospital can only treat his medical condition and he has to move when stable enough to start re learning everything. Then everything just got a bit fuzzy. We were given several options as there are only 3 facilities in NZ that deal with brain injury rehab and the probably the best care and programme for him is in Auckland. The more we are involved in his care etc the better his chances so it looks like a shift is going to be in order. But the better news is that most patients have about 90 days of rehab…ones that do well about 60 days…and a few who really get a wriggle on only need 30 days. So I have settled for the 30 day one! The head spins. Joel’s biggest draw back at the moment is his level of awakeness and resulting from that his swallowing reflexes. If he hasn’t learnt to control swallowing before leaving hospital they ram a tube in his tummy straight to his stomach for feed. I don’t want this. He has had enough things poking holes in him. So we have a couple of days to decide what we are doing so as to get the wheels in motion.


So we praise God:

He is well enough for his own room.

His monitoring is far less because he is in a more stable condition.

He sleeps!

He is still controlling his temp.

He had his cast off his left foot and they haven’t had to replace it.

He sleeps!

For family and friends who pray, love and encourage


Together we Pray:

that he wakes.

that he swallows.

that we would have wisdom as we make a decision for his next part of the journey.

that God’s healing power continues to restore him.

that we all stand firm for a complete recovery.

1 comment:

Scarlett said...

Thinking of you all, and praying for a speedy recovery for Joel. If there is anything at all that you need done back here in Te Hono st, please let us know, we would love to be able to help in anyway. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. James & Debbie Maguigan (number 6 Te Hono).

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