Over the weekend Amy was resting well, staying calm and occasionally opening her eyes. As Amy was injured on the left side of her brain, her physical mobility along the right side of her body is a concern. However, on Saturday Amy lifted her right arm for the first time and today the right side continues to improve!!
Many of you have been asking about Amy's level of consciousness. "awake" is a complicated word right now. Amy is both heavily sedated in order to facilitate her physical healing and her brain is recovering from large amounts of internal swelling and trauma. She is, however, reactive towards family. She alternatively becomes agitated and then calms, holds our hands and squeezes them, occasionally even strokes our faces. Although her eyes can not be said to track fully yet, she does now move them when open and leans towards us. The majority of the time her eyes remain closed. Today Amy was quite alert for a period of time and had her old strength and determination back to pull out her many tubes and monitors. She's always had an independent streak...
The nurses and doctors are trying to settle Amy into a state where she will be at ease and 'asleep' if undisturbed, letting the ventilator do her breathing, but where she will 'awaken' and become agitated and hopefully logically responsive if disturbed. Bringing Amy back into a realm of potential conscious communication is a slow and delicate process dependent on many factors.
Today Amy is working hard to initiate her own breaths. The ventilator is still helping her significantly - pushing air into Amy's lungs when she asks for it and keeping pressure in her lungs to prevent calapse. Amy still has a condition called ARDS (acute respiratory disorder syndrome) which is a very serious condition, however today's move to let her set her own breathing is an encouraging one.
Amy's days include lots of napping, foot massages and stretching from mom, new finger games with jess, tubes and meds and the beautiful letters and pictures taped to her wall.
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