Six Months

Just shy of the six-month mark, Quintin moved to an adult foster care home in Vancouver. He is one of six residents in the house (a real house, not a hospital!), and it is a very refreshing change from the nondescript hospital rooms he’s been in to this point. He has his own room, it’s painted a nice calm shade of green and the window looks out on a quiet cul-de-sac. He has cozy jersey sheets on his bed and gets to wear real clothes instead of hospital gowns. He still has a small ventilator and some other equipment in the room but even so, it’s infinitely more comforting and home-like. The woman who runs the home and the nurses we’ve met so far are all very nice and caring both to Quintin and those of us who visit him.

There are no doctors making regular rounds at this facility, like there were at the hospitals, so a doctor who has known the Rices for many years has agreed to take his case on. When he needs tests or any services beyond the day-to-day care the nurses provide he’ll be transported to hospitals. It’s very likely that one event or another (a high temperature, for example) will occur and he’ll need to spend a few days at Emanuel again, but that’s just the way the process goes.

On Saturday much of the family went to a benefit event for Dr. Chen’s research foundation. Dr. Chen is the neurosurgeon who performed both of Q’s surgeries, and the micro-dialysis shunts that monitored Quintin’s cerebrospinal fluid levels in the ICU are one of the techniques this fund has helped to develop. It was nice to see familiar faces from ICU and TRACU all dressed up! After his presentation Dr. Chen played the piano too, which was a real treat. One of the speakers at the event was a young woman who has been a patient of Dr. Chen’s since she experienced an AVM brain bleed a couple years ago. That’s a very different issue from what Quintin is recovering from but it was still heartening to see and hear from a real success story. Here’s hoping Quintin will be the speaker at next year’s event!

October 15

After a few days in the Legacy Emanuel ICU and a few more in TRACU (the trauma care unit, a step down from ICU) Quintin moved back to the specialty hospital. The main reason he stayed at Emanuel was so they could work on getting his sodium levels up. Sodium staying within normal range is crucial to brain function and healing and his had dipped a bit. But it's back on track now and is being closely monitored.

Quintin's uncle Adam and cousin Carolyn were in town for a few days and Adrian, Sharla, and Melissa were here for the weekend. So Quintin got an extra-strength dose of family time last weekend!

October 3

Until yesterday (October 2) Quintin was still at the specialty hospital he moved to in July. For over a month there has been talk of moving him to a foster care home but each time, right when we think we’re ready to go, something delays the move (various infections, etc). The last couple of weeks he’s had fevers that are likely due to neurological causes. The area of his brain that was injured is in the area that controls temperature regulation. The move was pushed back once again in hopes of getting that stabilized before the transition. He is on a long-term ventilator, also in preparation for the eventual move. For the most part he breathes fine on his own, but this vent is set to kick in if he needs it.

Yesterday his left pupil was very dilated and wasn’t responding as it should, so he was sent to Legacy Emanuel for a CT scan. The scan looked ok, which is a big relief. It’s possible that when one of his nurses administered a medicine he gets orally, some it could have accidentally been dropped into that eye and caused the dilation. It could also be a reaction to that medication in general, so he's been off it since this morning to see if that does the trick. At Emanuel they decided to do an overall check up and lab tests also. His sodium levels are a bit low and he has a minor infection that they want to watch, so he’s been admitted into the ICU again. It’s not a big deal, they just have better equipment, can take regular blood draws, etc. We’re actually glad to have him there, where we know so many of the doctors and nurses, and where we know he’ll get excellent, comprehensive care.

Two weeks ago when Beverly was commenting to the nurse that Quintin looked extremely alert, the nurse asked him to stick his tongue out. Within 5 seconds he stuck his tongue out. The nurse let him rest a couple of minutes and told him that we could see that he was not only able to hear us but to also do something intentionally. Then she asked that he do it again so we would know that he could hear us. And he did. He hasn't done it again for the past two weeks, but it is a start toward waking up. Also when we move his limbs to keep his joints fluid, we notice that he has gotten stronger leg muscles. Two months ago when we moved him he did not respond nearly as well as he does now.

Gretchen made a beautiful book of photos of Quintin and friends (thanks Gretchen!) that we’ve spent a lot of time showing him in the last few days. Obviously he doesn’t have his contacts in at the moment but if you really get the book in his face it feels like he’s looking at it.

Thanks everyone for your continued love and support.