Dad--Day 4 in NCCU

Dad looked much better today. When I went to see him from noon to 2 with my aunt and uncle, he would moan every now and then, but not constantly like yesterday. I was surprised to find that he was only given Tylenol at the time. Other pain killers were not given because they made him drowsy.

In the evening, the neurological test was done by Nurse Crystal. Dad did very well in his responses, such as moving his arms and answering questions about where he was, but he still can't wiggle his right toes. He can lift his right leg though. He indicated that his upper abdomen and head hurt.

Dr. Thomas showed us the results of the CT scan of his head and spine. It seems that there's a mass of blood inside his left front part of Dad's brain. It's bigger and more internal than I had thought. The area is a bit swollen and is pushing the left side a bit into the right side of the skull. It also turns out that the blood in the back area is actually on the right side and is near the top of the head (superficial).

Dad was able to say some sentences today (Thank you, sir./I'm fine.) and was lucid enough to say bye to my uncle by name when he left. One funny incident was when Crystal was doing the neurological exam, she asked Dad to stick out his tongue and move it left to right. Then, she asked him to move his eyes upward, but Dad still had his tongue sticking out. He ended up moving both his eyes and tongue upwards.

Dad's hands were nice and warm at the noon visit, but were cold again in the evening. Mom and I gave Dad a foot massage since those were cold, too. His angiogram is set for tomorrow, and we signed the consent forms. Dad was suppose to have it today, but there weren't any openings. Charles from the Neurology Intervention Unit came by to have the forms signed and nicely explained what will be done tomorrow. In the angiogram, a small tube about the size of the end of a pen will be inserted into the artery in the groin and threaded up toward the brain to release the dye. They will get a clearer picture of the blood vessels in his brain. Dad is second in line tomorrow morning for the procedure, and I will go with him for it, which should start at 9am and end around 10 am.

Of concern, we don't know what the blood is masking in the brain. Dr. Thomas (young woman) mentioned that there could have been a small stroke in the left front area that lead to the bleeding. Tumor has not totally been ruled out because they can't see anything with the blood. It's just all white in the CT scan.

Instead of overnight EEG, Dad had a 45-min one this morning, which did not show seizure activity. The anti-seizure medicine seems to be working, but he may be having small seizures intermittently. Dr. Thomas said that some activity that looked like the start of a seizure was seen, but it didn't progress.

Although Dad has bruises and scrapes on his right knee (the most), right elbow (3 spots), and slight surface scratches on his forehead (2 on either side of his hairline, the middle, 2 above either eyebrow), the only thing that indicates a major injury is his bruised right eye. He doesn't remember the fall at all (where or what happened). Mom said that Dad told her he went to sleep at 6pm the night before, which is really early even for Dad. It makes us wonder if he had an "incident" the night before, but how he drove to work is beyond us. He did arrive later than usual, which is 5:30am, and came past 5:50am.

Hopefully, the blood will reabsorbed on its own, but there's a lot more there than we initially thought. More answers should come tomorrow with the angiogram.