Quintin: August 11

What Happened to Quintin?

On April 26, 2010 Quintin experienced what may have been a cerebellar stroke. While crossing the street with his best friend, Quintin fell backward and hit the back of his head on a curb. He was unconscious for several moments, then was able to walk, with assistance, the short distance back into the building. After showing signs of a serious concussion he was taken in an ambulance to Legacy Emanuel hospital.

He was in the ICU at Emanuel until his 29^th birthday, June 5, when he was stable enough to transfer to the hospital’s Trauma Care Unit (TRACU). After nearly a month in TRACU he moved to Vibra Specialty Hospital in Portland.

At the end of October Quintin moved to an adult foster care home in Vancouver, WA. He has excellent around the clock nursing care from a team of people who believe in his potential to make positive progress toward recovery.

At times he seems alert and “awake,” other times not. He still has a tracheostomy tube in his throat and is sometimes on a ventilator to assist with his breathing. He is able to breathe independently; when he's on the vent it's usually there as a precautionary back up when he has a fever or needs his energy for something else that's going on. The trach does not allow air to pass over his vocal cords, but speech therapists can periodically check to see if he’s made progress towards being able to speak.

When he fell his occipital bone was broken, causing a brain bleed. The bleeding obscured the injured area, so we may never know the cause of the fall. It took several months for the internal swelling around the injury to subside. Now that the swelling is gone, CT scans have shown that there are damaged areas in the cerebellum, pons, and brain stem. Typically, brain tissue does not grow back, but it IS possible for connections in the brain to reform, and that’s what we are patiently waiting for now.

[Apologies for the long gap between posts. There haven’t been a lot of changes with Q, and I was in LA for the end of July/beginning of August with my most recent film festival.]

Quintin has not had a high fever since Monday, August 2^nd. Having his temperature under control is an excellent step. After trying everything they could think of to get his periodic fevers to even out, the doctors decided to try taking him off the drugs that, ironically, were intended to control his temp. Bingo. Since he’s been off that treatment his temperature has been much more normal and consistent.

As has been his pattern, since his temperature has been under control he’s been moving a bit more. He moves his legs in response to touch (which could be reflexive, it’s hard to tell), and has a better cough response than we’ve seen.

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