8/15 Marissa Update

Today, her vital signs continue to improve.  She’s on less oxygen support.  Remember 20% is the optimal number, and she’s down to 34% support.  She’s been completely taken off the drug keeping her in the sedated state.  For those medical know it alls that’s called dilaudid.    That mean’s we’ve seen her moving more as she comes out of the semi-coma.  She’s not as swollen either, and the nurses were able to brush her hair and get it out of the way.  Why I’m mentioning her hair is because if it had kept under a pillow they would’ve had to cut it off.  And if you know Marissa that would’ve been worse then anything she’s gone through. 

She’s now in critical but stable condition.  That’s the good news.  With that being the case we were able to get a better, long-term prognosis from the doctor.  Her current status is still “very sick.”  Not exactly the medical definition I’d expect to hear from a surgeon, but nonetheless her surgeon, Dr. Murry, is very good at just speaking to us in talking, not medical, terms.  I asked him to define what “very sick” actually meant.  He says if any one of the many tubes came out of her right now, including the ventilator, he says she would die.   

Long-term, if we have any indication, it looks like when she wakes up she will still be on the ventilator. There is no indication when she’s coming off that.  As far as the long-term recovery, that’s a little clearer as well.  She’ll probably be in the ICU at least another week, and optimistically we’re looking at another month of hospital recovery before she can go home. Murry also says were not out of the woods when it comes to the possibly of brain damage.  If you’ll remember the oxygen level reaching her brain went below 20% during the surgery.   While it is a great sign she was trying to talk right after her surgery and trying to communicate before they sedated her, we will not know the full outcome until they are actually able to perform a test.  So, when Marissa is off all the drugs they will perform a cognitive test to test her brain function.

Our cautious optimism continues, as Marissa now looks more like herself then ever.