News from the PICU

Day 2 at CHOP: Matthew woke up at 10 PM last night. He knew who I (Joan) was. He tried to talk, but his breathing tube was still in, so he finally got it pulled. Breathing great! By midnight he was talking sentences and moving his left side. By 2 AM I started to see movement on right side – way before doctor said I would! And by 2:30 he was trying to pull all his tubes out and was ready to go home (that is when restraints were brought out). The rest if the night he was talking about food and how great it was that we were having a sleepover. I started calling it an “over” because I was missing the sleep part. But so rejoicing for the incredible progress we are already seeing.

Yesterday in the post-op surgeon’s report he told us, “for every problem we may encounter, there is a solution!” Well at 5:30 this morning I encounter a big problem. Matthew’s head was lying in a big pool of blood. I called the nurse. The drain coming out of his head had snapped (it also measures his intracranial pressures). Although the nurses had not encountered this before, it was handled promptly and professionally. The surgeon on call instantly made a sterile field in our room and an hour later everything was secured! Matthew’s only concern through the whole thing: when can he have an egg sandwich? The whole lot of us were ready for egg sandwiches by the time we got that problem solved! Still no eating allowed yet. Shortly he will be sedated again for a 3-hour MRI.

Brothers and sisters, thank you so much for your prayers. Matthew and I are not alone!

News from home

Everyone doing well for me (Ron) here. Jeremy and Sarah did a great job covering this front yesterday so I could be with Joan and Matthew. No, unlike what Kari supposedly tried to say, she wasn’t in charge here. But as you can see, she is doing so well! For her part, she is making this whole thing extremely easy on us. Mom is also being very cooperative. Her vitals are very stable! No doubt many of you also had this wing covered through your prayers.