This was sent out by his son today: Way better than I expected to hear today...
Meeting with Dr. Hernandez (doctor taking over his case from today for a week 4/23 12:15pm
· Right now we’re just waiting to see if he’s going to wake up
o The “cocktail” of medications he was on has been discontinued to see what alert response follows
· To review, hypothermia (cooling protocol) was induced to try and prevent further damage to brain.
o He has since been warmed back up to a normal temperature from last evening
· They have determined it was about 30 min after cardiac arrest that his heart started circulating blood on its own. However, CPR was performed by Officer Kim (first on scene) very shortly after his collapse (approx 5 min.)
o Heart function is not the concern at this time and indications are that the damage is moderate and could be monitored with medications if everything else (neurological function) returns
· They need to wait for his body to metabolize out the drugs and clear them from his system.
o This process could take up to a few days.
o Kidney and liver functions have returned to some normalcy which is necessary to metabolize these medications out of his system
· Echocardiogram shows heart function is ok (operating about 2/3 normal).
o This is not uncommon as the heart has been stunned and needs to resume normal functioning.
· Enzymes released from his heart (due to muscle damage) reached a moderate level (not terribly high) and have started to recede.
· Fluid buildup in lungs has been addressed and it “looks better” after another xray was performed last evening
· Oxygen level on ventilator has been reduced down to 80% from 100%
o Some room for continued change available
· Signs to look for:
· Jerking /twitching– might see in next couple of days (doesn’t mean anything one way or another)
· Pupil response has been sluggish…hopefully that starts to improve.
· Movement of any kind
Summary—right now it’s wait and see. God-willing he can return back to us and as a “whole” person. As I finish typing this, Shannon and Paul have said his hand has started to move and his eye lid fluttered. New monitors are being added to more finitely track his heart function.