Day 10

Baba had his CT Scan at 4 a.m. this morning.  The doctors took a look at the scan, gave the green light to remove the catheter from his head and the neurosurgeons removed it at 9am.  He was quite agitated following the procedure and has been sedated while the doctors tweak his medications to get his heart rate and blood pressure back under control.  He continues to struggle with his breathing - a swollen tongue does not help the situation - but the CPAP machine helps.  It is very difficult to see him suffering like this - he nearly punctured my skin as he dug his nails into my hand while in discomfort.  I keep reassuring him that he's in good hands and will be ok, but he shrugged his shoulders with uncertainty.

Prior to the series of events of this morning, he gave me another glimmer of hope. He made a gesture asking for a pen (as if asking for the bill at a restaurant). When I put the pen in his hand initially, he was moving his wrists around, testing it out to discern whether or not he was capable of writing. I thought it was a false alarm, but when the doctor heard that he did this, she came into the room and put the pen back in his hand and asked him to write and tell us how he was feeling - and he did it! He wrote with perfect penmanship.  Though we couldn't really figure out what he needed (It looked like "more sofa"), its definitely a good sign.  Perhaps when he's a little more awake and less medicated, he will be writing with ease.