The brain drain came out on Thursday and Amanda has now been 4 days on the main neuro ward.
I met with her medical team this morning ( well, they are lots of people’s ‘team’). This week’s plan is to remove the tracheotomy tube and start physio.
By 11.30a.m. they had let down the balloon which blocks her airway and allows the trache tube to work, so she could breathe freely. This was a 2 hr initial test. At 5.30p.m. she was still going strong. If she manages 24 hrs straight, it’s coming out!
She managed 15 minutes of sitting up and also managed to comb her own hair. The physio said she would be asleep for the rest of the afternoon after that.
20 minutes later she was awake and smiling.
Also, as soon as she realised the trachie had been loosened and she had air going over her vocal chords she tried speaking, but still too quiet to hear.
Once the trachie is out, next stop is the feeding tube, once they are happy her swallow is strong enough to take food. Then it’s more physio and potentially back to Nelson in maybe a few weeks and not months as originally thought.
I watched Marvel’s Dr Strange last night. The medical procedures in the early part of the film were eerily familiar. Based on Amanda’s progress so far, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the rest of her plot plays out in similar vein!!
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