January 19th, 2011 by Conor

So another stop on the super demo tour down. This week was Mt. Hood. The weather was super rainy the whole time. A lot like our first on-hill sponsor activity at Windell’s. We sat around in the rain and tried to encourage kids to try tricks for free stuff. Danny made this easy to do. His positive attitude with any situation made it a pleasure to sit in the rain and cheer kids on. I’m trying to use all my experiences with Danny to keep the smile on my face. I can’t thank Michelle and Conor enough for keeping us posted. I always seem to find a laugh in what Conor writes. Michelles’ notes always make me smile because she talks about Danny the way he talked about her all summer. Sooo stoked to hear Danny’s progress!!! The little steps mean a lot right now and just hearing about them has brighten everybody on tours’ day. Got his easy livin signed and it will be in the mail this week. I hope the shred stick has the same effect on him as the shredding moose. We’ll be in park city this week and I promise to get my chuck monkey on for Danny. Much love
Zahlinski

January 16th, 2011 by MIchelle

We just had some really  good interactions with Danny. The nurse told us that he’s doing great today. Danny’s moving his eyes around and focussing much better. He’s shaking his head yes and no to questions, not regularly, but it’s a start and easier for us to communicate with him. I asked him if he wanted a foot massage and he clearly shook his head no. When Conor asked him if he wanted music he gave us a thumbs up. If you talk to him and he’s looking at you, it seems like he’s understanding what you say. We tell him what is going on, remind him where he is, and why he is here. He replied to Conor’s question, “do you remember snowboarding in Montana?” by moving his hand side to side as if to say that he kind of remembers. Every day brings something new and his progress is always encouraging.

-Michelle

January 16th, 2011 by Conor

Danny is normally a pretty chill guy. Today, however, his behavior was far from chill. He’s tapping his hand up and down, moving his feet off his bed, and yawning an awful lot. He’s keeping the staff busy by repositioning himself in the bed and keeps us entertained with the new progress. I was talking to him earlier and he lifted his hand up on my shoulder. I kept talking and he started to rub/scratch my shoulder. I told him thank you for the shoulder rub and he clumsily let go and dropped his hand to his side with some of my hair in it. Ellen also got a head scratch. His eyes open more regularly and blink and he had a few tear drops which he was able to wipe off himself. Danny is movin’! The doctor said that this is regular. There is a possibility that he’ll be agitated for a while, but it’s totally normal behavior. He’s brought a lot of smiles to his room today and some good laughs with the shoulder rubs and head scratches. Keep it up Danny!!

-Michelle

January 15th, 2011 by Conor

Around nine o’clock tonight, Paul gave Danny his nuero test. Tonight he mixed it up a bit and asked Danny to hold up two fingers. Danny showed us the peace sign and later when we were talking about it he gave the peace sign again. The right side of his body is moving well. His left side is less responsive, but he can still give a little hand squeeze. Paul then asked Danny to shake his head yes. Danny slowly moved his head up and down. It was really really faint, but it was noticeable. Next test…the smile. After Paul’s prompt, Danny moved his cheeks in an effort to smile. The right side of his face had more action than the left and I wouldn’t consider it to be a big grin or even really much of a smile at all, but he showed effort. He hears us. We keep telling him about all of the support you guys are showing him. Keep it up…this journey for Danny is a long one.

-Michelle

January 14th, 2011 by Conor

After assessing that the ICP wiring system was in fact not giving us the correct reading, the doctor removed the catheter from Danny’s head today. He also removed the catheter which was collecting fluid, mostly blood, from his head. When you look at Danny now, he has no more tubes from his chin up. Aside from his shaved head and the two large question mark shaped scars on either side of his skull he looks more like the Danny you and I know. Ellen had some exciting news to report to us this morning. She told us that Danny had scrub down today. While Beverly was washing him up, she talked to him the whole time and gave him the soap with a manly scent. When Beverly was leaving she said, “Danny, I’m leaving now. How about a wave goodbye.” Danny’s hand raised up softly and purposefully to wave goodbye to Beverly. A minute later Beverly said goodbye once again and Danny’s hand did the same thing.

-Michelle

January 14th, 2011 by Conor

It’s 4:45 AM. Danny hasn’t gotten any paralytics since 8 in the morning. That’s the longest he’s gone without being paralyzed. The paralytic is basically a last resort. If they can’t regulate Danny’s vitals through medication and his ICP is maintaining a number higher than 20 then they would paralyze him. The paralytic also causes issues with digestion and with the lungs. Today they were able to stabilize Danny’s ICP with the use of a medication called demerol on top of the use of mannitol. They have been using mannitol to flush the fluids and swelling. Mannitol is more or less a temporary fix for the swelling. This is one more step towards recovery. When the night shift crew, Conor, Josh, and I, clocked in things got a little different. Danny’s ICP was jumping all over the place. After a call to the Doc, Nurse Paul took Danny in for a CAT scan. The bolt and wiring system required can go bad between a week to two weeks of use and cause the ICP to read inconsistently. Danny came back from the CAT scan and they had determined that was the case. Needless to say, the alarm doesn’t go off anymore when that number goes above 20 and it’s much less stressful watching that number. They will now monitor his progress through the neuro exams. The last neuro exam went well. Danny opened his eyes and blinked a few times and gave a solid thumbs up with his right hand. Between every neuro exam we wait. We wait for another chance to see Danny come to life a bit more. Time moves slowly in room 5109, but way too fast when the meds wear off. “Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.” -John Archibald Wheeler

-Michelle

January 12th, 2011 by Conor

It’s 10:19 PM. I’ve been in room 5109 with Ellen for the last hour. We’ve been reading the site and catching up on all of these crushes that have come out of the woodworks, but that’s beside the point. Danny hadn’t been given any paralytics since 6 PM. His legs started to move and bend. Ellen and I held his right and left hand softly talking to him, words of encouragement. A tear fell from his left eye and then another from his right. He’s here. Paul, our nurse tonight, came in for a neuro exam and got Danny to open his eyes. Not all the way open, but more than we’ve seen him do. He slowly moved his eyes to the left. This is something we haven’t seen yet. As Ellen and I watched anxiously at his bedside Danny gave Paul a good squeeze with his right hand and a faint squeeze with his left. On top of all of this action, Danny gave the thumbs up! Then Paul told him he was “rockin” and asked him if he was in pain. Danny replied with yet another thumbs up. While we still don’t know the extent to Danny’s injury, these small things are really good signs. Keep rockin Danny!!

-Michelle

January 12th, 2011 by Conor

It’s 1:57 AM. Today has been the smoothest day thus far. Danny’s ICP has been at an all time low (a good thing) until about an hour ago and it started to fluctuate. The numbers go up, the numbers go down. After about ten minutes of trying to figure it out, repositioning Danny and watching the number do it’s thing, Danny is finally comfortable…as comfortable as you can be in his state. Today a lady walked in that I’ve seen a couple of times. She likes to check in on his progress. Danny is a celebrity here. She asked me how he was doing and I replied, “He hasn’t had any paralytics since four o’clock. His ICP is stable. He shudders at times, but it hasn’t effected the pressure. They’ve increased his morphine and gave him a little something to get his gut going. Today has been mellow.” She gave me a surprised look and said, “you should be a nurse someday.” When you spend this much time in the ICU with Danny, you begin to feel like a nurse.

-Michelle

January 8th, 2011 by Conor

Danny went through Tracheostomy earlier tonight. For those people out there that don’t know what that is, it’s an opening surgically created through the neck into the trachea (windpipe) to allow direct access to the breathing tube. This is a surgical procedure in which a tube is placed through the opening to provide an airway and to remove secretions from the lungs. Breathing is done through the tracheostomy tube rather than through the nose and mouth. — I might have consulted/plagiarized Johns Hopkins for this description.

Although this sounds like a downgrade in his status this move was done more or less as a preventative measure as well as an aide down the road. This procedure served two main purposes at the moment. 1) to clean and remove secretions from the airway and 2) to more easily, and hopefully more safely, deliver oxygen to the lungs.

Over the next week or two it is helpful because it will help to prevent infection of the lungs and hopefully, if all goes as planned it is statistically easier for a patient to ween off of the ventilator through the trache tube than it’s previous location in his mouth. Not to mention, it’s less irritating for Danny and he looks much better without the ventilator tubes coming out of his mouth.

January 6th, 2011 by Conor

The second procedure went smoothly. Danny is back in the ICU recovering at this moment.

They have temporarily removed part of his skull to allow the brain to swell without resistance. They placed the piece underneath his skin on the side of his hip. Now they will keep him in an induced coma for the next 7-10 days while they hope that his brain begins to reduce in swelling.

The doc was pleased with the way all aspects of the three hour operation went. When the doc decides that Danny’s brain has returned to its more normal size, they will close up Danny’s brain with the “stored” skull piece.

It is a total waiting game, but hopefully one that is now on a good, solid recovery course.