Tom is doing very well today.  He is speaking quite freely, with little hesitation.   He is allowed to be in a much more upright position.

Restful night, lots of good sleep for all of us.  There were no major heart episodes during the night, but cardiologists are doing a full scan of is heart right now.  Trying to get a good picture of just what is going on in the heart.  The heart beat tho steady is still considered irregular.  We may know more after the scan is complete.  When Tom woke up he seemed a bit more anxious and confused, but just know while talking with the cardiologist he made more complete sentences than i had heard before.  Main doctors (the neurology folks) will be in later for more consultation.  Remember this is just a layman’s report, open to all kinds of misinterpretation!

During the night he had a period where his heart ran too fast and irregularly due to the artificial elevation of his blood pressure. This was not unexpected, but did take some intervention. This morning the doctor came in and pretty much reassured us that he is getting the best treatment available. They did try to insert another sensor (arterioline) to allow them to better and more quickly monitor the way the meds are working. Unfortunately they couldn’t get the probe to go through the arteries because of the constriction caused by the meds…that’s not the way they would say it, but I think that’s stating it somewhat correctly in layman’s terms.

Poor guy-he really didn’t want them to do it, willingly accepted their advice, and then saw it fail to work, leaving him with some more sore spots and more reason to be discouraged. Overall condition seems to be better, body control and language definitely better than a day earlier.

After a relatively good night,  things have rapidly declined.  The doctors decided they had done all they could do for him in the ICU and transferred him to a more standard room.  Throughout the day his stroke-like symptoms increased and they have now taken him in for another cat scan and then back to ICU.  Tom is understandably devastated.  We ask for your heartfelt prayers.