July 4th--The Drain

On July 4th they called us at home and said they needed to put a drain and a monitor in his brain. It was a critical piece of his care that was missing. They had no idea what the ICP (pressure in the brain) was. Normally they would have put it in when they removed the piece of the skull but obviously they didn't b/c he was so critical. Today, he was only 2 days off the plavix (they like them to be off for 5 days before they do any surgery) so he ran a 20% risk of having a bleed on the "good" side of the brain. Yet, if they didn't put the drain in he ran the risk of the bleed getting larger and more damage being done. So we gave permission for the drain and the procedure went off without a hitch. They wanted to see his ICP below 20 and it was at 14 when they put it in. Earlier in the day when they brought his sedation down they did get some spontaneous movement from his right arm and leg and withdrawl from pain on the left side.