As of the last update, we were waiting for a decision on getting Seth’s Baclofen pump removed. The doctor explained that surgery was likely imminent since he was having so many recurring issues especially with the catheter site filling up, and each time they drained the fluid, it could have introduced more bacteria. The previous culture didn’t show meningitis but because he was started on 2 IV antibiotics right away, it could have skewed the culture.
Thankfully, Seth was in a pretty good mood and was able to have a week full of therapies. His AFO’s (Ankle, Foot Orthotic) finally arrived. These will fit into shoes to keep his foot in the right position to help in more weight bearing therapies.
Although Seth’s memories prior to the accident are pretty impressive, the ability to retain short term daily memories is still a struggle. His speech therapist told him, “Don’t say, I don’t know. Say, let me think about it. So, your brain doesn’t give up.”
Seth was finally whisked away on Friday 9/12 at 4:30pm. Surgery went well and the doctor said that he did see something around the pump, maybe an infection which they have sent for labs. Dave and Ben went to the recovery room and found the nurses surrounding Seth’s bed watching his dancing videos on YouTube. He will tell anyone that he meets that he is a dancer and to watch him on YouTube. The ipad & stand that they were watching on had a sticker that said “Distraction Therapy” which is hilarious to me. When we got back to his room, he was on 24 hour flat bed rest which was no fun, for him or us.
This weekend and today he has been in a lot of pain and not sleeping well. The thought is that he is going through Baclofen withdrawals since the pump is no longer administering the medicine directly into the fluid around the spinal cord to act on the nerves to reduce the severity of the muscle contractions, stiffness, spasms and pain.
Yesterday, we joined a gathering in an education room where a patient was live streaming the sermon from his church in California. Although the hospital has a chapel, there are no formal services, so word of mouth has spread and the group gets bigger each week to join him. A couple from his church’s worship team even flew out to lead the service in song.
My take away of Sunday’s message is that our world is broken, broken hearted and broken bodied. I am comforted and strengthened to get through every single day with mercies anew because of the hope and promise of a future with our Savior. There is nothing else earthly to depend on. God tells us he is the healer of broken hearts and broken bodies and we will delivered from the afflictions that this world puts upon us.
Keep your hearts and minds “steady and ready” for such a time as this.
Specific prayers: Please pray for pain management and sleep!
-Darcy
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