4TH PATH : BRIAN FRANK STRONG

Well today has been a rollercoaster (mostly for me). Brian had a very eventful morning of OT, PT and Speech therapies. All reported increased responses and alertness. The nurses were excited to report this news to me, which always is a great way to arrive to the hospital. And Brian was more alert in my opinion, too! I let him rest (and snore) in between calls with our families. By the end of the day, his lab results came back reporting that he has a staph infection in his sputum (spit/mucus). Luckily it's not in his blood, he hasn't had more fevers and his white blood cell count is normalizing, so we can assume the broad antibiotics they started Monday are working & they adjusted them to specifically target the infection as of today. The treatment is 10 days, so rehab is postponed until everything is cleared up. Ten days sounds so long - but God has perfect timing. Trying to keep telling myself that. On the way home, the trooper that drove me home was flagged down to block ...

On Monday morning, Brian had a fever and elevated white blood cell count (i.e. an infection). The doctor ordered labs in order to determine the source of infection, therefore delaying his transfer to rehab x1 week, pending the results. We should have answers by tomorrow. God's timing is perfect, and we've been praying for him to arrive in the exact right window - so I'm trusting there's a reason it's not time to go yet. Aside from that, yesterday was pretty low key & stable. The weather was warm and perfect.  Brian's CRIMPAT team all came out to have lunch outside Brian's hospital window with me. Having their support since day one has continued to be invaluable to me & our family. 💙 Sometimes the nice weather days are even harder. I stopped at mine & Brian's house on the way back to my parents after my visit and it was unbearable. Standing in our our empty house...in the now lush backyard made my heart ache (last time we both were home, 72 d...

Transfer to rehab has been pushed to Wednesday of this week, only due to bed availability. Aside from a mild fever this AM & and elevated heart rate, by late afternoon, Brian was back to stable & restful. I notice on days like these, he has less eye opening - but everyone feels tired when fighting fevers so it doesn't worry me. On several occasions now, dear friends have come to sit outside Brian's room to pray and support us. Such simple gestures that feel monumental to me these days. Thank you, sincerely, for showing up. Whether that's been literally, or through prayer, or outreach of any format - thank you. God, please heal Brian. Please restore my husband, restore the Franks' son, restore Erin & Georgie's brother, restore Joey's brother in-law, restore my parents' son in-law, restore Layla's dad, restore this best friend, neighbor, co-worker, trooper... "He gives strength to the weary & increases the power of the weak" - Isa...

Keeping this update short - Brian had another good day. Stable vitals, a 45min OT session this morning left him sleepy, but intermittently 'alert' (eyes wide opened) throughout the afternoon and early evening. The plan is to transfer to rehab Tuesday, where we pray for Brian's tenacity to shine! I'm praying the Lord is able to restore, recover and make restitution for everything the enemy has stolen from us. Please pray with me that Brian emerges to full consciousness in this big next step! But if I go to the east, he is not there;     if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;     when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take;     when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps;     I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips;     I have treasured the word...

Well, we are in limbo. I haven't updated because there aren't any real changes. Brian is still recovering well from his cranioplasty - very stable! Wed - Sun of last week, he was very sleepy. Not a lot of eye opening, not many movements at all. It scared me, to be honest. Even though I kept telling myself he had major surgery and needed rest, my mind still raced to the worst places and my fears got the best of me. By Sunday, this entire circumstance exhausted & crippled me.  Thank you to everyone that showed up on the prayer gathering and picked me back up. I decided to take a day off from the hospital Monday and my sweet brother & Erin went and spent the day with Brian. I had a low-key day with 2 of my best friends that just sat with me and played with my hair and helped me nurse my headache. When we video called Brian, I was happy to see he was opening his eyes again while Erin did some OT with him.  Today, he was 'alert' (eyes open) for almost the whole day a...

Brian is settled back in at the LTAC as of Wednesday night. All of his vitals are stable and we are one week post-operation. Stitches are healing nicely. Brian has been less 'alert' the past two days, seemingly in a good deep sleep (I can tell because breathes heavier, sometimes subtly snoring) & his jaw loosens up and mouth is open (typically his jaw is clenched pretty tight). Less eye opening and body movements but I'm reminding myself that he's still healing from a major surgery & needs this rest. I was reading about cranioplasty healing and it says it can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks (makes sense) so I'm trying to soothe my impatience today with the fact that he's stable and appears to be getting great rest -- which he will need to soak up before we get to rehab where they'll be more hands on to help emerge him. I still pray he shows signs of regaining consciousness before we transfer though. Yesterday, 4 more stories about brain injury/coma surv...

Yesterday evening, they removed Brian's EVD! No shunt needed! 🙏🙌 Thank you God for answered prayers! They'll keep him for 24hrs at the ICU for monitoring, but Brian has been stable throughout. He will go back to acute care tomorrow and then we will establish a new timeline for transfer to rehab. He has started to spontaneously wiggle his toes and move his legs, so we're happy to see unprompted movements of his extremities! They say the best healing happens while you sleep, so I pray Brian's restful state in his coma is helping him heal as best he can, before he wakes. I pray he wakes SOON, even before the transfer to rehab, so we can begin recovery ASAP! Lord, I am ready to champion Brian's therapies & create a loving and healing place for him (as are all of his friends, family & co-workers)! I know we are all so eager to see him through those days! God, we've seen you perform miracles time and time again - I've learned of so many brain injury sto...