Continued Support

The day for Jake has been rather peaceful. We made it through the night again without any spikes in his vitals and he stayed stable all night. Yesterday Jake had started being fed through a feeding tube. But, today we found out that Jake's isn't absorbing the food (he has always been a picky eater). He was started on a medicine to help him absorb the food.
His left eye is a bit swollen and this is resulting from his eyes not completely shutting. Although we are putting medicine on his eyes to help keep them shut, this is common.
We did have good news today that Jake's eye that has been more responsive was more responsive today than it was yesterday. We are looking for signs of response and the fact that this was a little better today was a great sign.
We also learned today that his white blood count had gone down since yesterday, which again this is something positive.
We talked to the neurosurgeon again today and he went over the CT scan with us.
He basically said, yes there is still swelling in Jake's brain. There is an awful lot of his brain that he said is "dark" he also said unfortunately that part of his brain stem is also "dark" what this means....I'm not completely sure. What I do know, is that Jake fights continually. If he wants anything he figures out a way to make it happen. He considers his resources and he goes for it.
That is what we are doing. We are continuing to pray, love, and hope.
Until next time.

Rachel

The end of March30th

There isn't much to update from earlier. Jake has been amazing all day. He hasn't been running crazy fevers and his vitals have been steady all day. The doctor came in this morning and checked on him again. He tested for signs for response. When he grabbed Jake's toe his knee did twitch. However, we don't know if this was a response from the brain or the spinal cord. We are looking for signs from the brain. Today we started feeding Jake through a feeding tube. This feeding tube is not long-term but we will talk about a long term feeding tube in the future.
Jake is off one of his three blood pressures medicines and is where it should be. Ideally, we would like to get him off all of the blood pressure medicines.
Jake did develop thrush in his mouth which is a simple infection often found in babies. Jake most likely developed this from a steroid that he is on. Very easy to treat.
Jake did get a head CT today, which we were unaware that he was going to have. We talked to the ICU doctor (NOT Jake's neurosurgeon) and she went over the CT scan. It basically just showed the swelling in Jake's brain and the area of the brain that has been effected from the aneurysm. We will have more information tomorrow when we go over the head CT with the neurosurgeon. Today and tonight has been peaceful and we are continuing to pray.
We love you Jake.

Rachel

Early Morning Tuesday March 30th

Jake did well all night. He made it through with one small fever around 3am. He was given a bath this morning and is still on all the same meds.

Our cousin Bill who is in the navy was able to take an emergency leave and his flight will be landing here in St. Louis in about 30 minutes. We are so thankful for this. Jake and Bill are very close and it will be good for Jake to hear Bill's voice.

The doctor should be by at some point this morning and I can update again then.

Jake Day Two Monday March 29th

Hi All,
I know I told everyone that I would update this as soon as we heard from the doctor. Today Jake has struggled all day with his body temperature, brain pressure,and blood pressure. But he has been a fighter. Every time things have been a little shaky he has come back.
He started two antibiotics today because his white blood count has been high. Usually when this happens it is a sign of infection. However, the nurses let me know that he could test high for white blood cells and its not an infection. The antibiotics are just precautionary. He also started an IV of potassium to lower the pressure in his brain. We added "booties" to his feet so he won't develop bed sores.
THE DOCTOR
The neurosurgeon said, that from now it is a waiting game. Jake is showing less reaction today in his pupils which could be a bad sign. The doctor said, the more time that goes by and he loses functions then we will have to consider other possibilities.
Currently, Jake is not responding to several tests such as: pain tests on the toes and hands. His pupils do respond but it is minimal. The next 3 to 4 days we will be waiting for the brain swelling to go down. The doctor said, that the longer time goes by where he isn't responding then the less likely it will happen down the road.
Questions were asked about whether or not the fact that part of cerebellum was removed and how this could effect him in the future. The doctor responded, that many people have parts of the cerebellum removed and they are ok and the effects can be minimal.
What makes Jake's situation difficult is that the part of the brain that had the aneurysm was in the cerebellum which was dangerous because it was putting pressure on the brain stem. We do not know the effects this will have.
RIGHT NOW
We are praying for signs of life. We are hoping he responds to the simple tests that the doctor gives showing that he is still there. We are praying for a miracle.
The doctor will be back in the morning and I will update then.


Rachel

The first few days

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to create something where we could all get updates on Jake. I won't be leaving the hospital much so I will be able to keep everyone posted.

Jake was rushed to the ER just after 1 am the early morning of Sunday March 28th. He had snorted the drug OxyContin and the doctors believe he had a weak vessel in his brain. The drug went immediately to the brain and caused this vessel to burst. The doctors did a scan of the brain and saw this and came to us with the option to operate. At this time Jake had stopped breathing on his own and showed no signs of brain activity. We of course opted to do the surgery in hopes of saving Jake's life. The doctor warned as all about how risky this surgery is. He said that if this wasn't an 18 year old kid he would not even do it. The Neurosurgeon and his team went in and did their magic. Jake was amazing and made it through the surgery.

Once he was stable enough in ICU we were able to see him. While we sat with him my mom and I noticed his eyes really moving a lot. At some points he was moving them so much I was sure he was really trying to open them. This was a great sign. We don't know if this is voluntary or involuntary.

When Jake was first in the hospital his body temperature was 89 degrees. So after surgery we really worked on raising his temperature. Slowly his temperature did rise and we got it to be normal.

However, as the night went on Jake began to have a fever and at one point reaching 103.9.
Everyone was asked to leave the room as his temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate were not where they should have been.

We stayed by his side through the night and Jake was finally stable again. We are seeing the doctor this afternoon and I will update this blog then.

Keep your prayers coming, they are working miracles!


Rachel