Day #9

My dad had a CAT scan today. A couple of days ago, he was responding a lot to his visitors, even answering questions with a shake of his head. But the last couple of days, he had shown very little response to outside stimuli, despite the fact that they have been weaning him off of the sedatives. So the doctor was concerned that my dad might have suffered some neurological damage, maybe even a stroke. The doctor also needed to check on the other internal organs and see what damage the sepsis had caused.

The news from the CAT scan was good across the board. None of his organs has cysts (they were especially concerned with his kidneys), and his brain seems to be in perfect order. The doctor went on to explain to my mom that the lack of response is most likely due to exhaustion. Like a person who runs a marathon and collapses at the end, my dad had been working extremely hard just to stay alive. Now that he was past the worst, his body was exhausted and just trying to rest.

We were hoping that he would be able to get off of the ventilator in the next day or two, and when I spoke to the respiratory specialist yesterday, he said that, depending on his condition in other areas, they would likely be able to remove the breathing tube today or tomorrow. However, his doctor decided that, although my dad was breathing on his own, he was working way too hard to do so. So they sedated him again (partially for the CAT scan and partially to so he would allow the ventilator to do part of the work), and they increased his oxygen again. They said that he would have to be on the ventilator at least another two, and probably another five, days.

They also said that he would probably be in the ICU another week to ten days, after which they would be able to move him to a standard hospital room.

So overall, the news is good. He is making progress and healing, albeit slowly. I have seen the power of prayer, faith, and priesthood blessings work miracles in his body. The Lord (with a little bit of help from the doctors) has saved his life because of all of our faith and prayers. With our continued faith and prayers, my dad might just surprise the doctors and turn this marathon recovery into more of a sprint.