Sunday March 21, 2010

Over the past two weeks, John has been recuperating from the surgery to implant the baclofen pump. Unfortunately, this process has been a difficult one. While we were initially very excited about John's move back to TIRR, it is a rehabilitation facility and not intense patient care and as such, John has required near around the clock care and attention from family members. Outpatient surgery is difficult for all of us but particularly so with John because he is unable to clearly express where he feels pain and also unable to let nurses and doctors know about which medications he takes and when. You would be surprised how many people walk into John's room and seem unaware of the fact that he has a brain injury and begin barraging him with questions. We carry lists of John's medications and try to keep track of what he is given and when and remind them when meds are needed. This may seem like overkill but we noticed that the hospital had an old list of John's medications and luckily we were able to get his chart updated.

We recently learned that John will be having surgery again this week. At some point over the past several days, the leads going from the pump to his spinal cord have moved and will need to be repositioned so we will be going through the same outpatient surgery in the next few days. To say that this is frustrating and that we hate for John to have to endure any more discomfort is an understatement however we truly feel that this pump might provide him some assistance and relief over the long term. After the surgery, John will return to TIRR to once again begin the long rehabilitation process. Another slight setback is that since John remains largely unable to swallow, his physicians have placed an N. G. tube which goes up his nose and into his stomach to provide extra nourishment. After this next surgery, the hope is that John will resume eating and swallowing more normally however placement of a more permanent feeding tube is not out of the realm of possibility. We are taking this one step at a time and remaining hopeful that the Baclofen pump will help to improve some of John's basic activities of daily living.

As soon as John is out of surgery, I will update here. As always, thanks so much for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers.