The 9th floor became a whole new world. I settled in and stayed at David’s side all-day and slept on a couch at night. I kept a journal of every breath he took, every medicine given and his reaction to all 13 of them. I wrote down every beeping sound, his heart rate and blood pressure reading. I kept entries of when David yawned, coughed, how many hours he would stay awake and how many he slept, his body temperature and when he would stay focus or be in confusion state. I don’t know what prompted me to do this but it became necessary and important for me at the time. I believed this information would draw his progress or decline as days went by. Often it is trial and error before the right medication or combination of them may prove effective. As it turned out these logs ended up defining the appropriate drug regime for David.
David had “storming” episodes constantly. I recorded each one of them and how long they lasted. Storming can take an individual into a state of chaos. “The SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) is responsible for the control of the body’s increase heart rate, respiration, perspiration, release of adrenaline and other activating hormones, which characterizes the body’s response to stress. Storming occurs when the SNS produces this stress response repeatedly and the PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System) cannot cope and fails to control the stimulation levels.” (synapse.org.au) To help lessen the intensity of these unpredictable episodes of agitation, we would place cool cloths to David’s forehead and on the back of his neck while having a fan blow in his face allowing for cooling and reducing his body’s temperature. During these episodes, he would experience hypertension, tachycardia, stiffness of his extremities and profuse sweating. We prayed these episodes would go away.
The following day of his admittance to the 9th floor, he developed an infection and was placed in isolation. The few of us that would be with him had to wear gloves, suites and masks. My youngest son, Fernando and his long time friend Julie Johnson drove to Miami to visit David. Unable to do anything for his brother that was always helping him to move forward troubled him. The constant struggle to accept that this was happening was real and his pain became mine as well. After a long talk with his brother, he left with a heavy heart.
Every day we watched for signs of seizure, dehydration, skin breakdown, weight loss, which could cause a decrease of muscle mass that could increase further atrophy.
The doctor who had admitted David to the Trauma Center was back from his three-week vacation and came to see him. As he approached David, with a distressing stare in his face he looked intently at me and said, “he has a severe brain injury”. As he spoke, all I heard in my heart was, “he will be ok”. Dr. Sanchez repeated a second time, “he has a severe brain injury” and even though his facial expression was dim, all I heard was, “he will be ok”. He reiterated a third time, “he has a severe brain injury” and a third time, I only heard, “he will be ok”. Without any other comment or exchange, the doctor turned around and left. Later I realized how God protected my heart from anguish and infused my soul with hope. I had never experienced this before and praised the Lord for His embrace.
The Lord’s voice is calming and He provides guidance and direction. The more we spend time with God, the easier it is to recognize His voice. We can learn how to distinguish His voice above all other noise. He is never late in speaking to us; He is an on time God. It is up to us to choose to listen to Him.
(Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 40:31)
David had “storming” episodes constantly. I recorded each one of them and how long they lasted. Storming can take an individual into a state of chaos. “The SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) is responsible for the control of the body’s increase heart rate, respiration, perspiration, release of adrenaline and other activating hormones, which characterizes the body’s response to stress. Storming occurs when the SNS produces this stress response repeatedly and the PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System) cannot cope and fails to control the stimulation levels.” (synapse.org.au) To help lessen the intensity of these unpredictable episodes of agitation, we would place cool cloths to David’s forehead and on the back of his neck while having a fan blow in his face allowing for cooling and reducing his body’s temperature. During these episodes, he would experience hypertension, tachycardia, stiffness of his extremities and profuse sweating. We prayed these episodes would go away.
The following day of his admittance to the 9th floor, he developed an infection and was placed in isolation. The few of us that would be with him had to wear gloves, suites and masks. My youngest son, Fernando and his long time friend Julie Johnson drove to Miami to visit David. Unable to do anything for his brother that was always helping him to move forward troubled him. The constant struggle to accept that this was happening was real and his pain became mine as well. After a long talk with his brother, he left with a heavy heart.
Every day we watched for signs of seizure, dehydration, skin breakdown, weight loss, which could cause a decrease of muscle mass that could increase further atrophy.
The doctor who had admitted David to the Trauma Center was back from his three-week vacation and came to see him. As he approached David, with a distressing stare in his face he looked intently at me and said, “he has a severe brain injury”. As he spoke, all I heard in my heart was, “he will be ok”. Dr. Sanchez repeated a second time, “he has a severe brain injury” and even though his facial expression was dim, all I heard was, “he will be ok”. He reiterated a third time, “he has a severe brain injury” and a third time, I only heard, “he will be ok”. Without any other comment or exchange, the doctor turned around and left. Later I realized how God protected my heart from anguish and infused my soul with hope. I had never experienced this before and praised the Lord for His embrace.
The Lord’s voice is calming and He provides guidance and direction. The more we spend time with God, the easier it is to recognize His voice. We can learn how to distinguish His voice above all other noise. He is never late in speaking to us; He is an on time God. It is up to us to choose to listen to Him.
(Joshua 1:9; Isaiah 40:31)