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last updated 5:30pm Eastern Time, 2/2/2001 Week Two Journal The focus of this page is the second week after David's fall. More and more stories and photos about David started to flood in this week, and several of them made the daily updates. David showed steady, slow improvement throughout the week, which surprised the medical team, but not anyone who knows how long it has always taken to wake David up.
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5:15am Pacific Time, 1/21/2001 Ok, so maybe I WILL send out an update this morning... David had a pretty good, pretty stable night. They drained his head only
every 30 minutes or so. His ICP's stayed mostly in the high teens. His
body temp is now near 37.7 degrees celcius. (37.0 is normal body temp.
It got as high as 38.5 yesterday.)
8:30 PM Eastern Time, 1/21/2001 Evening all you east-coasters, and afternoon to all y'all out west. David is having a VERY good day! I just got the five-minute update over the phone, so I only have a little bit of info to share tonight. Dad's sending out more details to me overnight, which I will pass along to you in the morning. First of all, David seems to be fighting off his infections pretty well. His lungs seem to have cleared dramatically of fluid - the nurse could drain very little fluid, and could hear nothing through the stethescope (does anyone have a medical dictionary handy?). This is a dramatic improvement over yesterday. David's ICP's are staying generally between 14 and 18. (Remember, undamaged brains run from 5-9, and they want to keep David under 20.) They are only draining his head about once every hour - MUCH better than once every 15 minutes like it was yesterday! Because he has now been in the ICU for over a week, the nurse felt that it would be a good idea to allow some friends in today - to provide David with some stimulation to see how he responds to it. When each friend entered the room, his ICP would jump up about two points - indicating that he is aware of this new presence - but quickly dropped back to what it was - indicating that he can handle this stimulation and manage his own inter-cranial pressure. When his friend Biggsy would taunt him, his pressure would rise, but when Biggs described a scene on the golf course in which Dave chipped into the hole from 75 yards out, the pressure would drop again. (Of COURSE Dave still responds to flattery!) The one continuing concern is David's fever. Normal body temperature (measured in Celcius) is 37.0. He hit a high point today of 38.4. He is still fighting pnemonia and sinusitis, however, so with all of the other signs looking as good as they did, this is not a dire sign. Dad claims that he got a better explanation of yesterday's CT scan and of things like David's shivering, and he goes on to claim that he will put such things into a message for us tonight when he gets home from the hospital (not "home" home, of course). I'll pass along this info tomorrow. It was very difficult to leave David last night, and to leave San Francisco this morning. Kathy and Okie had warned me of that, but it was still hard. I flew through the Denver airport, and even the AIRPORT held memories of David for me. Never thought I'd get choked up over Denver International... It is also interesting to note how much all of our moods are tied into the five or six little green numbers that flash on the monitor over David's bed. For the first two days, I hardly noticed these digits. Then we started to focus on the ICP. Then the blood pressure. Then the heart rate. Then the CO2 levels. Then we started to see (or imagine) relationships between these different numbers, and two of us would get in there beside Dave and start cheering him on to raise or lower two totally different numbers. We would look at each other, puzzled. "Why do you think THAT number is so important? It's THIS one that really matters." In the end, who knows? It does matter that he has his friends and family around him. It does matter that he has thousands of people fighting with him. It does matter (to him and to us) when we read your messages aloud - he responds to your names, to your voices that come through your e-mails, and to your stories. Thank you all. We have helped David through the first week of his recovery. With your continued love and support, David will make his full recovery. All of our love,
We read your e-mail like the New York Times - which comes e-mail in the
middle of the night at our house. Praying for the headline which says
--The Sullenbergers (Family Friends) 9:45AM Eastern Time, 1/22/2001 Good morning, all! 9:25AM Eastern Time, 1/22/2001 I wanted to send this out as well. This comes from a friend of Dave's who has been with us all week, Sandra Forrest Stillwagon. The first part of the message is important to give you yet another perspective on Dave and how he looks (great, naturally). The second part is important because it gives the names and address of the fire department crew who was first on the scene of David's accident. David would not have survived without the expertise of this team. They NEVER hear about the people that they have saved... "Jay! Your wonderful father brought me in with him to talk to Smotty today, and wow! What a gigantic relief it was to see him! I was a rookie, but your dad lovingly explained everything that was going on, the tubes, the numbers, the procedures Cory was inflicting on Dave in his own loving way... I talked with Dave for a couple of minutes, but mostly I just wanted to hold his hand today. He looks great... How does a guy in his condition manage to maintain a great tan, thus looking healthier than the rest of us? Now that ain't fair! While I was in there, Cory was speaking with your dad about "next steps," which was also just excellent! I have been so optimistic and not just hopeful but EXPECTANT that Dave will fully recover, but it was fantastic hearing his nurse speak in matter of fact terms about "next steps." And for me, the VERY best part was that at one point, Dave coughed and lifted his left hand towards his mouth... Apparently, a lot of times coma patients will try to remove the tubes from their mouths when they cough like that, but I swear Dave was simply trying to cover his mouth because he was coughing. A polite kid (heh heh) who has been raised right! It was just a very uplifting, invigorating experience to see him move for myself, and to know that he could hear what I was saying. Back in the waiting room, a few of us were talking about the firefighters who rescued Dave. They are really an incredible bunch, and it sounds like they were so pleased that your dad tracked them down and called them. How about posting their names and the address of their fire station on the web site so all of us who are so grateful to them for everything they did to save Smotty can send them thank you notes? Your dad gave their information to me, and here it is: Firefighter Matthews Fire Department E 21
The Smot Family Web site Exclusive Update 10:00AM Eastern Time Just got a report from Mom. Dave had a pretty good night overnight. His white blood cell count is down, meaning that he is not having to fight the infections so hard. His fever is up, though, so we need to keep watching it. His ICP's stayed in the teens, with regular draining of his head (don't know how often). The good sign is that the head drains very quickly, which means that we have gotten past whatever the problem was the other night. 10:15PM Eastern Time, 1/22/2001 Hello again, all! Please forward this message to others who are interested and don't forget the web site: www.intellistar.net/~smetty/david.htm Dave had another good day today! ICP's stayed pretty stable and the fever has dropped somewhat from its peak during last night. The brain drains well, when necessary. The big news is David's responsiveness. This morning during a pain stimulus test, (in which the docs pinch David's shoulder), Dave took a swipe at the doctor! While we normally do not encourage such behavior, this was the first official sign of "purposeful movement" - a movement with intention to remove the source of pain, not just a twitch in response to the pain. All day, David seemed to be more and more irritated when the nurses fiddled with him - trying to shift away from them. Anyone who has tried to wake David up before about noon will be familiar with this behavior. There is a series of tests called the Glasgow Coma Tests (or something similar) that evaluates the level of coma that a patient is in. I believe that I do not have all of the correct info about this test, but here is the general idea. The patient is tested in three areas - eyes, body, and something else - for responsiveness. In each of these areas, the patient is measured between 1 and 5 (1 being unresponsive and 5 being highly responsive). The total count, then, can fall between 3 and 15, 3 being the lowest score and deepest coma, 15 being the best. When David was first tested on the scene, he scored a 3. (The patients in Miracle Stories 1 and 2 from an earlier e-mail each scored a 3 as well when they entered the ICU.) Today David tested at 5! This shows improvement, and shows the amount of progress yet to go. Mom and Dad will send out a more detailed message tonight, which I will forward in the morning. But I thought you might want to know... We also continue to receive wonderful messages from David's seemingly countless friends and loved ones. They are wonderful examples of Dave's personality, and they are written with tremendous affection for both David and our family. Thank you, and please keep them coming. I am forwarding everything we receive to my parents in San Fran and to Kathy in Colorado... everything appropriate, that is. ;-) One quick story to share with you tonight. Many others have arrived, so please stay tuned. I'll add them to the web site when I get a minute. Thank you all so much for your love and support. We will call on your messages and stories many times over the next weeks and months. All our love,
--Neill Redfern (San Francisco Friend) 8:45AM Eastern Time, 1/23/2001 Hi all. Here is Mom's update from yesterday. Monday, January 22, 2001 11:30 AM SFGH Good morning everyone ….The waiting room right now is filled with
one pretty large family. My assumption is that they are here because a
loved one is in ICU. As Bob climbed on a table to streeeettttch up to
reach the only outlet in the room, one of the men said, "Here, you
can move that As you can all see, you have lost the analytical skills of Jay and Bob at this writing, and "the Mom" is on the computer. Doctor Vest just skipped into the room to tell me that the neurological team looked in on Dave this morning. Really, he skipped. That is the body language I like in anyone coming from David's room. Dave's pneumonia is still a problem, but the team was delighted with movement in his left hand and arm. When the doctor pinched his shoulder to test for reaction, he got a full-fledged Dave response. His arm shot up in an effort to grab that hurting hand. It indicates good communication is going on in the left side of the body. The right is still weak, but this response is positive. There is a pool in our waiting room crowd with bets placed on what Dave's first words will be. I'm not the betting kind, but my guess is that those first words won't be printable. He hates that tube down his throat and the suctioning of his lungs every two hours or so. It bugs him when a nurse suctions out his mouth or looks for a new artery to add another tube. I hate it that he can't just sleep peacefully while his brain heals itself, but my heart does soar each time his eyes move under the lids or his knees lift as though he'd like to kick them away. The nurses are great. They tell him what they are about to do and why, and they monitor the machines and his every reaction with not just professionalism, but with great care. We read your wonderful e-mails this morning. They are filled with stories and love and practical responses to questions we send out. Thank you, thank you so much. It helps us stay positive and gives us whole periods of real happiness. This looks like another good day. Dave's vitals have remained fairly steady all night and morning: ICU pressure is in the upper teens with draining once an hour; his temperature has dropped into the mid-37 range from a high of 38.8 last night so the anti-biotic is making some headway. There are still signs of pneumonia in his lungs and there may be an underlying cranial fever – one that they can't identify except by exclusion. We hope that there won't be any once the anti-biotics have completed their work. Other than those readings, we are in a holding pattern as Dave takes charge of his own recovery. Monday evening: Dave stayed steady during the day with no significant changes in the vital statistics. The nurse had to change his stomach tube (xray showed it has curled in the wrong way), his temperature rose above 38 despite his lying on his ice blanket, and his ICPs were in the high teens with draining occurring at least once an hour. He is thus producing a lot of fluid so that the pressure remains high even in the face of frequent draining. Despite that result, we are very optimistic and looking forward to his fighting the temperature/pressure battles. One new measure we may be using to judge Dave's progress will be the
Glasgow Coma Scale – a neurological exam that is administered every
two hours. Three different components make up the 3-15 point scale: All our love, 3:00PM Eastern Time, 1/23/2001 Hi, all! This is another message to pass along to all of David's friends. If you've missed it, the web site can be found at www.intellistar.net/~smetty/david.htm First, the overnight update on David, then a note from Johanna, then Brian O'Callaghan's now-famous Color Commentary. Dennis Miller beware! Dave had another good night. His ICPs stayed down pretty well, only requiring occasional drainage of the head. Early this morning, his ICP was as low as 10! His fever is getting lower than its peak from yesterday, but it is still higher than they would like. They also had to re-position his feeding tube yesterday. Now that is taken care of. They had also noticed that Dave has put on a few kilos since his arrival. They monitor how much mass enters his body (in the form of fluids) and how much leaves. He had retained several kilos, which explains why his hands and arms are a little puffy. Last night, for the first time, he dropped a kilo of the retained fluids, which is a good sign of... something. Anyway, we like it. Couldn't explain why. Now, Mother has something that she would like to add to he comments yesterday: Tuesday, January 23, 2001. SFGH. Noon Good morning, America. This is Johanna amending yesterday's morning And finally, here is Brian O'Callaghan's wit, as best as we can determine... COLOR
COMMENTARY - Brian O'Callaghan One of Smot's favorite weeks, is Super Bowl week. He has actually gone a couple of times and hung-out with the likes of Walter `Sweetness' Payton and other stars drawn to his wit and small town "John-Boy" looks. Dave and I, in the old Beta days as roommates, often watched hours of NFL films well into week nights (different studying) preparing for the big game in the comfort of our fraternity's basement where the pre-game fare included four day old cold-cuts and processed chicken salad with a wonderful yellow tint and hardened texture. You have not seen my `color commentary' for a couple of days because Suzanne and I came home Friday night to reorganize our lives. While we miss Smot and feel uncomfortable not being in SF, it has been good to see our family. Smot, despite his bachelor reputation, would have been psyched to be with us this weekend because he loves hanging with my family so much. We started by visiting my sister Karen who just had twins, Patrick and Charlie joining sister Callie, who is approaching three. Callie in particular has been praying for Uncle Dave and when she tells you she has done so, it could make any grown man melt. We then had dinner with best man Cal and wife Catherine chilling with Kate (10 Friday), Charlotte (6) and Allie (approaching 4) just before their bed time. They have also been avidly praying for Smot. It was a wonderful evening where we feasted on Cal's chili and played Hearts til' midnight. We then saw my mother Wendy and her husband Bob for a visit Saturday morning. My mother has a wonderful way of supporting the people she loves and I can't tell you how good it felt to hug her. She has been praying so much her heart aches. Suzanne's family then stopped by Sunday with lunch to cap-off a weekend of reassurance and warmth. Father Sandy was sent-out to get Mayonnaise, but that did stop the rest of us from immediately chowing (much like the waiting room at SF General). Sister Linnie (Suzanne's best friend), boy-friend Carter (going to the chapel…), brother Peter and mother Big Sue were all there to support. They all love Smot and are confident of his imminent recovery. I guess the point of this entry is not to bore you with my weekend's activities, but to remind you to reach-out to your family because there is nothing purer. If you are not close with your family, consider reconciliation, or, reach-out to Dave's family because through this experience, we are all one family. I am in the office today and will start organizing Dave's foundation for which we have already received donations. We are arranging through Chris Wolfington's new e-service called, ecount where you can make your donation on-line. Please email me with any questions (brian@careerpartnersinc.com). Oakie 12:00AM Eastern Time, 1/24/2001 Good evening, all! This is yet another message to pass along to everyone you know who might know David... which might be more people than you suspect. The web site address is: www.intellistar.net/~smetty/david.htm This will be the last update until late Wednesday night - I have an early flight tomorrow to San Diego for a project. Yes, work. Believe it or not. Seems a little bit unreal, actually. So, the news continues to be great for David. His ICP's have stayed in the mid-teens today, with relatively little drainage. The big news today has been David's reactions to stimuli. Mom was talking in his ear when he moved his opposite arm across his body towards her. The extent to which he grabbed her hand, patted it, squeezed it, and whispered poetry will doubtless grow with the number of re-tellings, but there definitely WAS a purposeful response to a voice stimulation, not a pain stimulation. This, among several other signs, has given the doctors and staff tremendous hope and confidence... It's about time they caught up with us. ;-) So, they have started to back David off of his sedation. Atavan is the drug being used to keep him unconscious. At noon, they reduced his dosage from 6mg per hour to 5mg per hour. At the same time, they reduced his morphine dosage (for pain, naturally) from 5mg per hour to 4mg per hour. We are watching his ICP's very carefully, and as of the last check, they were resting steadily in the mid-teens. They will watch him overnight, do some more Glasgow testing in the morning, and decide then whether or not to lower his dosages even further! It is possible that he is even trying to open his eyes, but is too sedated to do so. This is all fantastic news! Perhaps just as exciting is Dad's claim to now be ahead of Charley Biggs in the big tennis competition that is taking place between them. Dad took an early lead (1-0) by winning the warm-up. Biggsey tied it up (1-1) by winning the next round of the competiting, two straight sets. Today, Dad again regained the advantage (2-1) by graciously accepting Biggs' forfeit. Officials are reviewing whether Biggs can necessarily be blamed for forfeiting because of rain... The gang in San Fran has been taking great care of Mom and Dad. Dad's played tennis, and it being challenged to squash tomorrow, I think. Mom took a yoga class and felt great. It helps so much to get out of that hospital - thanks to everyone out there for lookin' out for our folks! Also, in case you are concerned, Kathy and her kids (living right outside Colorado Springs) have locked all the doors to keep the escaped convicts out. The entire neighborhood is on high alert, and she has people looking in on her regularly. Finally, I shared the "beer voice" story from Neill Redfern. There has been some busy traffic today taking credit for the origination of this art form. Indeed, Okie is taking credit for just over half of the clever things that have been attributed to David in the stories posted on the web site. So, here is the witty banter between Brian O'Callaghan and Jeff Caples, two of Dave's buddies from Denison. Brian O'Callaghan: While I know Smotty can not respond just yet, which is why I can so boldly make the following claim, it should be noted that Smot stole the beer voice from its creators, Oakie and Jeff Caples, the two original founders of the "Brew Crew." We quickly initiated Smot as one of the original founders after he showed dedication to the cause and natural ability in the art of `brew humor' which was originally designed to make fun of losers from big schools such as Ohio State who walked around with t-shirts that read "Beer, it's not just for breakfast anymore!" We had more fun with the beer voice and Brew Crew which included fake chugging beer with guys at bars who thought we were serious, fishing for beers are bars with fake fishing poles, building a chapter room for the Brew Crew in the President's room in Beta, yelling what when we over heard some guy we didn't know proclaim how many beers he consumed the night before and making fun of individuals such as Bag, who hated to enjoy a beer now and again... --Oakie Jeff Caples: Brian beat me to the punch with his response to
the Beer Voice story. We Dave mentioned to me in our recent conversation
that he got you a pair of Jeff Caples
All our love, 9:45PM Pacific Time, 1/24/2001 Good evening, dear friends. It has been a long day, but I do have good news to report. Before I get there, of course, I have my mantra to repeat: please pass this message along to others, and point them to the web site: www.intellistar.net/~smetty/david.htm David had another strong day today. His fever has been lower (37.5, down from 38.5 a coupla days ago), which means he is successfully fighting off the infections. His ICP's stayed in the mid-teens today, even while they fiddled with this and that all day long. He is becoming more and more responsive - moving his eyes under his eyelids, moving his legs, coughing to loosen up his chest, and even moving his RIGHT arm in response to a stimulus - THAT was a first, and is great because it was the left side of his brain that was injured. They're draining off his lungs very well, and hardly ever draining off his head. Things are happy in the ICU waiting room. They have dropped David's dosages of Atavan and morphine another 1mg each. We will hold at this dosage for at least a couple of days to see how he responds. We continue to receive more and more wonderful messages and stories from Dave-friends from throughout his life. While some of these stories are shameless attempts to get published on the internet, they are still heartwarming and amusing. There are many many stories that deserve to be posted to the site - I can only promise that I will get to them as soon as I can. Thank you all for your continued support. We are looking forward to having the entire family together again this weekend. Below is more wit and wisdom from Brian O'Callaghan. I haven't read it, so I can hardly be blamed, right? Thank you all for your continued love and support. You are all helping us through the greatest challenge our family has ever had to face. With your help, we're even feeling pretty good about things. All our love,
January 23, 2001 I did not want this ironically exhilarating experience to fade into history without memorializing it as one of the most spiritually fulfilling moments of my life. It truly has been a dichotomous existence of excruciating pain, and joy. Most of all, I have never witnessed the human spirit at this level. Adversity is both confusing and emotional. It tests our loyalty, strength and will. Everyone connected with this extraordinary group of people is lucky to participate in what has been an amazing collaboration of love and unfaltering support. This tightening of bonds has occurred not only because Dave Smethurst is a good guy, but because this group of good people adore friendship. Smethurst is loved because he sincerely appreciates the institution of friendship and has a gift for making people of different shapes, colors and sizes feel special. He has a calming influence on the most uptight corporate executive to the despondent cab driver. Smot appreciates life's small, yet meaningful events. I love that grass roots part of him. Smotty travels around the country not only because he is financially irresponsible, but because he enjoys his very diverse group of friends whose company he craves. He has similar qualities to someone who embodied friendship and humor, Scott Fassler. You have to be around him. You want to share life's triumphs and disappointments with him. Smethurst and I have been blessed with a very special friendship because our relationship has matured since Denison while remaining appropriately regressive. We are close friends with simplistic roots from Denison where we roomed together, played fooze together, played Lacrosse together, had a few pops together, figured out ways not to study together, created unique humor and mutually suffered together. As adults our friendship has grown. While we enjoy many of the same frivolous activities, in 1996 who took a chance and built an unproven business together; the joining of Oscar and Felix. In 1998, we dissolved a failing business together. With all of the pressures associated with this dilemma, it never compromised the integrity of our friendship. We would spend hours attempting to resolve uncomfortable situations, and then go-out and break bread together as if nothing happened. Our friendship was more important possessing a Teflon-like bond. Its survival was not discussed, just done. Every year we have become more addicted to each other's company accepting golf as a consistent platform to hang and irresponsibly congregate. Nothing has ever obstructed us, and perhaps this accident is the ultimate example of this. While it has been a worthy opponent in its ability to abruptly disrupt, our friendship and mutual dedication will prevail. You should be proud of yourself as we have all, at some level, acted as heroes and heroines reinforcing Smot's desire to wake-up and fully recover. His family in particular has represented strength and compassion at its highest level. As the wonderful January 18th San Francisco dinner we shared (wish everyone could have been there) was a moment that will live forever because friends and family became just family, let's appreciate the small moments, such as Smot's first poop or first arm movement. Smot is getting better because we have created a powerful positive energy overcoming numerous obstacles. His support is spanning the world in the form of prayer and hope ranging from close family and friends, to students, nuns, priests, Cardinals, Jesuits, etc. We have much hard work ahead, so let's take a deep breath...he is going to need us as much in three months in his recovery, as much he needs us now to survive. 9:30PM Pacific Time, 1/25/2001 Good evening, all. There is much exciting news to share (so share it
with others) and we have two whole days to talk about. So, there are three
parts to this message. So, here's Johanna's report from yesterday evening: 1) Wednesday evening: San Francisco General Hospital Dave had a fourth good day in a row. Although his temperature was up
Hi Jay, 3) So there you have it. Dave is getting ready for his big return! They reduced David's levels of Atavan (from 5mg/hr to 4mg/hr - I think) and morphine (by less than a mg per hour), and this may be contributing to his increasing levels of activity. He may also be saving up an incredible number of comebacks and jokes that he just cannot contain any longer. We are very very excited by this progress. Now, we want to share a story about another family that we have come to know in SF General. This past weekend, a group of five "kids" (probably my age) were involved in a car accident. Each of them needed surgery, but two were in bad enough shape to be placed in the ICU. The only woman in the accident, Mirna, was in the worst shape of all. The Dave Team has been sharing the waiting room with Mirna's family all week. They have read the Dave Smethurst web site, and they have been inspired by the tone that was set by all of us. David's family - genetic relatives and everyone else - has reminded Mirna's family to focus on the successes and hope, instead of the fear and setbacks. Tomorrow (Friday) Mirna undergoes a 14-hour surgery to work on a variety of injuries to her spine, legs and other parts of her body. You are an incredibly powerful group of people. We ask that you include Mirna in your prayers and thoughts - especially on Friday. She will have no choice but to join us and David at the recovery celebration. Thank you for your continued messages and support. All of our love, 11:45PM Pacific Time, 1/26/2001 Good evening, friends! Another good day for David, so please pass this message along to anyone who would like to know about it. The web site is www.intellistar.net/~smetty/david.htm Before we begin, I should explain a little something. First, my father has an inquisitive mind. When left to its own devices, it seems to get curious. Now, David is surrounded by a little under eighty-three thousand machines (that's a rough estimate, of course) that all appear to be incredibly important. Many of them blip, although more often than not, they just display lines and shapes that look as though they WOULD blip if they actually made any sound at all. Most of them hum. Some of them bing when a bag of Atavan or morphine or antibiotic or "beet juice" (the highly nutritious can of goo that they are feeding David) runs out. Others bing when a critical number or line gets higher (or lower) than it should. Some display numbers. Sometimes two devices will display the same number, although the two numbers might not actually represent the same thing. Sometimes there are two different numbers which DO represent the same thing. Some machines hiss. Some have lights of various colors. There is a fan - it mostly blows. My dear father has spent a number of hours in this room in the company of this mechanical armada. Since David is not quite his normal conversational self yet, Dad has been left to his own devices, and like I said, he gets curious. So his personal quest has been to decipher (or oracle) the meanings of and relationships between the lines, numbers, lights, hums, hisses, bings and blips. He has been relatively successful at this. Well, as far as we know, he's been successful. We don't know enough to contradict him. So if David is "Smot", then Dad has named himself "Dr. Smot". Dr. Smot has developed an evaluative scale to track David's progress. The factors that make up the daily evaluation depend on which machines have been added or subtracted to the mix. The carbon level in David's exhaled air, for example, was not deemed important until they hooked up a doohickie for measuring it. David's weight (a measure of the retained fluid in his body) was not considered "relevant" to this precise Dr. Smot evaluation until they started paying attention to it with a thingie. Dr. Smot's report from last night follows, as an example:
Temperature : steady (-) So, this is another +3 day on the Dr. Smot scale. Now, upon consulting Mama Smot a short time later, an additional point was tentatively added to the day's rating because of the fine motor skills demonstrated by David's squeezing of her hand. This point will be held in escrow until officials have time to review the day's action.
But please remember that waking up will be the very first step. David is very busy right now wiring and rewiring his brain back into place. Getting everything functioning properly is going to take some time and effort. Please do celebrate with us the successes of each passing day, and the celebration of David waking up will be tremendous. But we have a road ahead of us yet to travel, and we will continue to need you every step of the way Please continue in your tireless efforts of positive thoughts and prayer. Your work is accomplishing tremendous healing at San Francisco General Hospital. And it will be through this same overwhelming support that we will accomplish our goal - David's complete recovery. Thank you all so very very much. Below is Brian O'Callaghan's color commentary for the day. For the Smot family, though, we are signing off. All of our love, COLOR COMMENTARY - Brian O'Callaghan I cannot describe how great it was to see my boy Smotty today. These six days away from San Francisco General Hospital have been an eternity. We may never know how much it has helped that we are here, but it sure feels good. If at all possible, please try to make a visit. I promise you will leave inspired and thankful for time with the Smethursts. They really enjoy seeing everyone and feeding off of our love for Smotty. Smot is clearly responding to our presence. When I first walked in today and announced Oakie Doakie was back, his ICP shot up to 25 and his left arm moved towards me. I would imagine having a child is a similar experience. It was unbelievable. After I grasped his hand, he actually squeezed it a bit. His eyes seemed to open a bit as well. It also seems his is trying to move his mouth which in my opinion is bad news because for the last 13 days I have not been subjected to the same ten (and ten only) jokes and skits he has been performing for the last 15 years. There are pictures all over his ICU room, which is nice and today they are playing Mozart. The nurse Doug is very cool. He described every piece of equipment, every vital sign and the purposes of all the tubes, air casts, etc. The Smot's continue to inspire us with their incredible strength. Seeing them this morning was like seeing my parents for the first time in months. So let me say this one more time, I love the Smethursts and am grateful for their courage. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has reached-out with phone calls and emails. You have been a soothing and strengthening influence. Smot's progress is exciting, but please do not let up on the full recovery prayers. He is used to it now, so let's keep it up.
P.S. The Dave Smethurst Recovery Fund is now officially set-up on the web page. Sincere thanks for everyone who has already made a donation, and for those of you who will soon. |