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As many of you already know, Zach fell off his skateboard on Saturday Sept. 6th. As a result of the fall, Zach suffered a traumatic, closed head injury and is listed in critical condition in the ICU at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Zach is currently under sedation and being kept in a paralytic state to help keep his intra cranial pressure as low as possible, which will help decrease the swelling in his brain. He has been placed in a RotoProne bed, which will help his lungs combat pneumonia which recently set in. Everyone is hopeful and optimistic regarding Zach’s long-term prognosis. The Monday after the accident, Zach was able to move his legs, arms, toes and even squeezed his mother’s hand on command. He has a long journey to recovery ahead of him, but he has his youth, great caretakers and a large group of friends and loved ones rooting for him. His family will be keeping this blog in an attempt to keep all of Zach’s friends and loved ones up to date on his condition. Please check back often as we will try to provide daily updates. You may also post your own comments and please know that Zach will read them soon.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Day 37 Progressive Care

Zach your sole goal today (now yesterday) was to remove any and all tubes protruding from your body. You mastered this art by convincing me of your need to suction yourself (good job) and then so doing, inched your way up to your dob-hoff feeding tube. Yes and yanked it out, right in my presence. There is much much more to this day...I will savor it in detail later....Let's just say, you have a powerful ichinen (determination)! And you tired me out today with your total resolve to be free. It is time to get out of that bed. (By the way, you like the small blue pillow from your room, and enjoy the squisshy ball and the frog that lights up when you squezze it. )

Zach you now are good at nodding your head to yes and no, giving thumbs up and down and snapping your fingers when mad. You like changing the channels on the TV. In between your aggravation to be free, you watched both soccer and football today. You are now fully aware of person and time....You know who we are, and you know this is 2008. You still don't know where you are...when we ask you "are you in the grocery store? " or "are you in the hospital?" you don't know yet. So we keep orienting you to the place, the present.

You are now on the trach collar only! Yes, the respirator has been removed from your room and replaced with an IPPB machine (for treatments only). The chest tube is clamped...we await the chest x-ray results and pending removal of this tube....if you keep progressing in the fashion, as we know you will....You clearly will be in Rehab by the end of next week for sure! WOW!

By the way, Ange and I LOVE it when you hug and kiss us now....
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