Not quite yet....

The day started positive with a wonderful ICU nurse, Kathy, who we had the first time Bruce was in ICU in May for the cysts bursting. She was already on top of the weaning off ventilator situation before I got there and she worked her hardest all day long to progress him along. She turned off all the sedatives so he eventually woke up and we got to communicate where I felt like he was really present for the first time all week. He can't talk obviously but he can write some things down and just give me expressions that I understand. This was the first time he became aware of what happened and he was very shocked. He still thought it was Monday and kept asking questions about work and worrying about his job. He was very upset to learn it was a seizure that happened at work and he was transported in ambulance. He is obviously wondering why it happened and I wish I had an answer. It was simply good to see the real Bruce present. He even motioned to try to hug me with the 3" of slack they gave him on his wrist restraints.

the Bad news: The blood gas levels never reached where they needed to be to take breathing tube out. The last test was done around 2. After that the critical care doctor decided to put him back on sedatives and rest through night and try in morning. The nurse even tried to talk the doctor into it anyway but no luck. VERY disappointing to the whole family. We felt terrible for Bruce because he was awake all day waiting for it to happen and he kept waiting for 2pm test to be done. I think he handled it well considering how miserable he feels. I just want him to be ok so I don't want them to push it if it's not time as much as this is killing me. He has fluid in lungs from aspirating during seizure so he is coughing that up today which may help his oxygen improve. He had dialysis today and they plan on doing it 2 more days in a row. He is still on antibiotics, high blood pressure and anti-seizure medicine. The nurse untied his hands finally and I think that helped calm him down. She really knew how to handle the whole situation and I am SO happy to know she is going to be his nurse again tomorrow.

I hope he rests peaceful through the night and gets lots of oxygen flowing!

In other news....Bruce's brother Sean called Nancy Alvarez from local NBC news who did a story on Bruce back in May when his cysts burst. She called me today and said she reads the blog and was saddened to know about recent events and wanted to do a follow up. There was a short story on the news tonight at 5pm with mostly same video as before but adding the info about the current seizure. I don't have any video links to that and the old one on here is not live anymore but there is a story link from June here. Nancy Alvarez mentioned getting a story for Nashville NBC affiliate where Sean lives.

I continue to be amazed and grateful about the people who have offered support and help. I need all the encouragement to make it through these tough days.