Wednesday
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Tagged brad : Update
Last night was not good. This morning, Dr. Koury seemed extremely frustrated with the lack of progress. I think he's about ready to take the bar out. I don't see how that would help at this point...two surgeries in two weeks and no plan for the future to treat the original problems. If it comes out, it's the first time for Dr. Koury to do that.
Brad's arms are so weak that he can't raise them above his head by himself. As of 3 days ago, he has lost 8 pounds. I'm sure he's lost more by now. He has knots in his shoulders and neck from tension that make it difficult to do all the work he has to do. His back aches from having to sit up for x-rays and so that they can drain fluid from his lungs. His kyphosis (curved spine) is so much worse that it's painful to view and his spine looks completely out of place
We made Brad really mad this morning and got him crying. That seems to help loosen things up, but still he had no productive coughs. About that time, they showed up to take him to his x-ray. Afterwards, Rhonda put him in the shower for a long time. Same story...no productive coughs.
The blood tests yesterday detected staph infection. Dr. Wade wanted to ignore it and decided to wait to treat it, as it could be just a trace. However, it showed up again today, so she laid some heavy duty antibiotics on him. I don't even want to know the side effects, but they are serious enough that she delayed using the medicine until she felt she had to.
Dr. Wade also detected fluid in his lungs. She had the radiologist back on the job to draw out another 900cc of fluid. Dr. Wade told him she wanted all the fluid drawn out, but he sent back word that it would be too dangerous to drain all of it. He got what he could. They cannot continue to draw fluid like that....Brad has to get it up by coughing. [edit: Rhonda wanted me to point out that Brad can't cough up that fluid outside his lungs. I should have said he has to cough to keep it from accumulating outside his lungs.]
We had a miserable early afternoon with lots of pain and crying. I think Brad had given up. The late afternoon and early evening were better. At this point, we have to do the breathing apparatus every 15 to 30 minutes. He did better on breathing in the late afternoon and did some therapy for his arms, but there's one big thing missing - coughing. That's why the fluid continues to accumulate. We had a great respiratory therapist in this evening, but she couldn't get a cough either.
I think at this point, Brad realizes the seriousness of his condition, but still can't help it. I never had any doubts that this would all turn out fine until today. Right now, I don't know what to think.
I can't post like I have in the past as Rhonda and I are taking a much more active role in trying to get him through this. We haven't taken phone calls either and don't expect that to change in the near future. I appreciate all of you who have wanted to do something for Brad and us. If you're praying for him, you're doing all you can right now.