Monday, February 4 - יום שני, 4 פברואר

From Judi:

With all of the strong antibiotics that Nathaniel taking, now a yeast infection in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has developed. They found it in the sample they took during the surgery last week. They started him on a very, very strong anti-fungal medicine that could have bad side effects. The microbiology lab found that the yeast is sensitive to something less strong, so they will start him on that. He'll still be taking the antibiotics, though, until he finishes his course.

The initial criteria for him to move out of the ICU were to breathe on his own and to have no drains. He's met those, but because of the new infections (and continuing fever of unknown origin) the doctor prefers to keep him in the ICU. I tend to agree. The nursing care is excellent and he still needs a lot of care.

They sent his file to the rehab place but because he is still not stable, they won't look at the file yet. We'll wait.

He is "sitting" in his wheelchair. Today I noticed that he seemed to be able to hold his head up better. That's good. Adina put a gauze pad in his hand and told him to wipe his face. He seemed to be trying, but we're not sure. He is not performing for the doctors, so maybe his movement is just our hoping that he is following commands, rather than actually doing what we ask.

The doctor said that, based on Nathaniel's progress so far, he is cautiously optimistic that Nathaniel will return to consciousness at some time. It will be hard to determine because the area of the brain that controls speech was damaged. We can hope and pray that he meets these milestones soon and surpasses the doctors' expectations.