Day 13 - June 13, 2008

I think things are finally starting to catch up to me. I am just so exhausted tonight. I hope y'all don't mind, but I am going to keep this one short (or at least that's my intention, but I can get on a roll sometimes)

So Kev went for a CT scan last night and we found out this morning that part of his brain tissue is still dying. The docs can't say anything more about it at this point - only that it is going to take time to see the toll all of this will take on his brain (not to mention the rest of his body). I wish I could say that all of this is really going to be ok, but I guess we just don't know that. I was really 'down' after the neurosurgeon left because he stressed to me exactly how bad this is. But I can't stay down, right? If I do - there's just no sense being here and that's not even a consideration!

One fantastic bit of news is that Kev's face honestly looks great! He didn't have any gauze or goggles or anything on for a long period this afternoon and I just can't believe the difference that two weeks has made. His cheeks are almost completely healed, as are his lips. His eyelids are still pretty burned and so is his chin and the tip of his nose, but the rest of his face looks pretty darn healed to me. I did notice tonight that part of his left ear must have come off because it's stapled rather oddly to the side of his head. I don't know how I missed that before, but it has been covered for the most part. Maybe that's it, huh?

I also finally got to see his hands tonight. I watched the nurse remove all of the wrappings and although he is pretty burned, his hands look great to me too. The grafts on them seem to be doing very well and he even moved a couple of fingers while he was unwrapped. Yay!

Speaking of moving, it was reported to me that Kev was 'rubbing' his belly this morning (probably the staples were itchy) and he also tried to pull out some of the tubes on his face. He still isn't awake, but it's a start as far as I'm concerned. I had to laugh too because I kept moving his right arm away from his body and he kept moving it back (not immediately, but eventually). That's my stubborn son - wants it the way he wants it, lol.

So tonight they have decided to take him off some of the meds - his heart rate, blood pressure and shoot - there's one other one that I just can't think of right now. When I walked in his numbers were really high, but I was able to get everything back to normal by talking to him, with the exception of his heart rate. It was around 130 when I went in and after talking to him for a little bit and continuing to read Harry Potter (the first one so far) to him, his HR went up to 140 so I put the book away and left the room. I think he just needs to rest sometimes.

One extremely nice thing that happened today is that a non-profit organization rented a car for me. I regret that I don't have the name of the organization, but as soon as I do - I will post it. I should say that I am not one that accepts help easily, but having a degenerative (sp) neuromuscular disease makes it hard for me to walk a lot. The hospital is just a tad too far for me to walk from there to the guest house numerous times a day, so this was a wonderful thing for them to do for me. I so thank them.

I also want to thank Ross from KDKA. Ross - I hope I someday get to meet you. You are truly a compassionate and wonderful person. I am not real big on talking to the media and I only did this because Kev's fearlessness deserves to be told, but you made this a simple matter during a very trying time. Kudos to you and your team for an interview well done. For those that aren't local and can't see the news - here is a link. I can't figure out how to directly link it, but it's titled "Clarion Co Soldier Fighting For His Life" on this page:

KDKA News

Ok folks. That about sums it up for today. And although I hate to do it, I would really like to ask everyone to not call me tomorrow morning. I could really use a good sleep-in and although I do understand that everyone just cares and loves us, I really am so tired.

Love you all!