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Brother Update
Mar. 8th, 2012 01:10 pmI posted the other day about my brother Carl.
http://jackiekjono.livejournal.com/90933.html#comments
I just wanted to give an update.
Carl is still in the ICU and will stay there until at least Tuesday. He's stable but, he can't really get up without injuring himself and sometimes forgets that so he has to be very closely supervised. They have an aide in the room with him at all times and they have not resorted to tying him down which is nice because the hospital that our friend Kay was in while she was being treated for a brain tumor did keep her tied down and Carl was really upset by that at the time.
He seems less loopy now than he has been but talking hurts so it's hard to tell if there has been any brain damage. They haven't said anything about the likeliness of brain damage so it's probably okay on that front but, hard to tell from behavior at this point.
The tumor/cyst/whateverthehell is blocking spinal fluid from being able to drain. He has a shunt in his head now to drain off the excess. They did an MRI but, it was inconclusive. On Tuesday they will do exploratory surgery to biopsy it and see if they can get a clearer idea of what it is. I think at that time, they will also put in a more permanent shunt that will allow it to drain without lots of external tubes and wires.
http://jackiekjono.livejournal.com/90933.html#comments
I just wanted to give an update.
Carl is still in the ICU and will stay there until at least Tuesday. He's stable but, he can't really get up without injuring himself and sometimes forgets that so he has to be very closely supervised. They have an aide in the room with him at all times and they have not resorted to tying him down which is nice because the hospital that our friend Kay was in while she was being treated for a brain tumor did keep her tied down and Carl was really upset by that at the time.
He seems less loopy now than he has been but talking hurts so it's hard to tell if there has been any brain damage. They haven't said anything about the likeliness of brain damage so it's probably okay on that front but, hard to tell from behavior at this point.
The tumor/cyst/whateverthehell is blocking spinal fluid from being able to drain. He has a shunt in his head now to drain off the excess. They did an MRI but, it was inconclusive. On Tuesday they will do exploratory surgery to biopsy it and see if they can get a clearer idea of what it is. I think at that time, they will also put in a more permanent shunt that will allow it to drain without lots of external tubes and wires.
