(Early) Monday Morning

Brody had his breathing tube removed yesterday afternoon and from a respiratory standpoint has done very well-- He surprisingly didn't need any oxygen afterwards.

His Labs have all been  pretty stable-- his hemoglobin has even increased a little bit.

They weaned him off some of his sedation/pain meds and his main complaint last night was some pretty bad leg pain-- this was in his thigh (which is new)-- but is now feeling better. We suspect this is a new nerve pain- we consulted a neurologist and they agreed that the area in his spinal column where the tumor is can cause this pain.

We have had to pause some of Brody's nerve pain meds and it takes a while for it to come on board and start working again. We are still holding his oral nerve pain meds due to his recent stomach issues... he did get his patch put back on.

His blood pressure is still high (the nerve pain patch will start to help this when the meds in it start entering his system).

His NG tube was removed and they have continued to irrigate his stomach with a little bit of water every hour... it is no longer red tinged and looks to be normal looking.

We are still in the PICU-- should go upstairs later today I hope.

Brody has been up since about 4 pm yesterday right before they extubated him-- I guess he had a few days of sleep and feels rested. There is a TV & DVD player in his PICU room and he has been watching movies pretty much straight since he woke up last night

Trish and I have been alternating staying with him and sleeping. I've been sleeping about 8 pm til 2 am and Trish sleeps from about 3 am til 9 am... I also caught a nap in Brody's room yesterday while they were tapering down his sedation meds. 

Geordi came down for the weekend-- you are supposed to be 12 to come into PICU-- Geordi turns 12 in a few weeks but has been growing like a weed the last year and is now taller then Trish but still a little shorter than me-- and can easily pass for 14 or 15 years old-- so we snuck him in to visit Brody. Rich Naves flew him down here again on Friday-- Trish's dad drove him back up yesterday-- Geordi is going to his 6th grade camp in Michigan this week.

Jaden has spent the weekend at Trish's parents house and will stay there as long as Brody is in the PICU since he can't come back and see Brody.

Thats pretty much it for us...we are taking steps in the right direction the last day or so-- hoping we get out of the PICU and home soon.

As our usual-- we are living in the moment-- at this moment Brody is feeling well, is happy, watching the movie Cars 2 with his dad and in a good mood.... and when he feels well we all do.

Thanks once again to everyone that has been helping us out, following our journey and praying for Brody.

Bill