Days 5 and 6

Though Mikey's condition has not changed much in these few days he has been in the process of gradually being weaned off of the medications and being evaluated to determine if he is able to swallow foods. The doctors have told us that he will have good and bad days; these days were more bad than good. He was "overstimulated" as the doctors call it, which leads to him being restless, combative, and agitated. His heart rate increases as he struggles against the restraints that keep him from pulling out any tubes. His brow is dotted with beads of sweat as he angrily fights against the restraints until he can take it no more and he relaxes before falling back to sleep. His speech does still not make complete sense and this was kind of discouraging; however he has been talking a lot more in comparison to the first few days. He now has a condom catheter (it's exactly what it sounds like) and though it surely does not irritate him as much as the previous one, he still seems to be determined to remove it. We talked with him about a speech pathologist coming in to evaluate him to determine if he is able to eat and told him that we were going to be bringing him a milkshake in the near future. Not five minutes later the nurse came in to take his temperature and when she put the thermometer in his mouth he wrapped his lips around it and tried to suck on it like a straw. Mom frequently applies chap stick to his lips and he readily accepts this by puckering up his lips and then purses them together once applied; afterward he says "thanks Mom." Killean came to visit and asked him when they were going to go back to the gun range to shoot their shotguns and Mikey said "twenty bucks." Mom said "Now Mikey you paid a lot for that gun, don't you think you should get more money out of it?" He replied "ten bucks." Despite the extent of his injury, the confusion, and medication he still seems to have his wits about him. Once he was transferred out of the Trauma Intensive Care Unit to another wing of the hospital he received a "sitter," which is a skilled person that sits with Mikey at all times to make sure he is not doing anything he is not supposed to do. They succeeded at getting him to sit up in his bed for a short period of time before he got lightheaded and laid back down. Though I was not there to see it I heard from the nurses that he actually stood up with a little help, though he was a little wobbly. Hopefully the speech pathologist will be able to assess his swallowing ability so he can eat some solid foods. His nasal-gastric tube has been replaced and he is receiving nutrition, but he often opens his mouth wide and sticks out his tongue like he is trying to take a bite out of something.