Hey all,
Dad was taken off sedation today. He was a little lucid at our 1:00 visit and emotional (probably the meds, mostly). We saw him again at 5:30 and he was much more aware of the situation. He got panicky that he had lost his legs. We kept reassuring him that his legs would be fine, but he's not able to fully understand yet. The respirator is out finally, but it's very difficult for him to talk. He wanted to write something down, but all we got was a scribble. Mom, Stevie, Joanie, Matt, Anna and I are headed back up there at 8:30. He should have his neck brace off (precaution only) and the breathing mask off by then. I'm hoping that the Diprovan (the sedation meds) will have worn off a little more by then. He kept repeating "I love you" and "I'm sorry" which was very emotional for all of us. Even after all of this, he's still more concerned about us than himself. That's my dad though. This is another hurdle I wasn't expecting. The emotion he has for us hit me like a ton of bricks when I first walked in there. It's very hard to have only 30 minutes with him at a time. None of us want to leave his bedside. I hate the thought of him not remembering we were there and waking up each time without us. Hopefully he knows we wouldn't leave his bedside if we weren't forced to. I'll give another update after this next visit. Thank you for taking the time to read this and know that without all of our family and friends this would be much harder!!