Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sunday, Feb 27 - Maurice wants to talk

Family and Friends,

When I put the stats on the page I would never have imagined, over 1000 hits, you truly do not know what that means to us, thank you.

I knew they said Maurice was swollen but wow, in my opinion (Marcia) he looks like a sumo wrestler in training, it is unbelievable how swollen he is.  He had dialysis yesterday and the nurses said his swelling should go down this week.

Maurice definitely knows when we are there, you can tell he gets excited.

Today I was talking to him and said "so what are the nurses calling you, Maurice or Pringle?  I think today's team is saying Maurice."  All of a sudden it looked like he was answering me :-)  Mechele then held his hand and said if you love me squeeze my hand, and he did hard :-)  He couldn't stop trying to talk (remember this is our opinion, not clinical feedback)

The Nurse came in and told us we are getting him to excited, try not to make him talk, we are making his pressure go up.

So we have to remember minimum is best.  Maurice looks anxious and sad at times, wish we knew what he was thinking.

Overall I want to say it was a good day.

Thanks again for all the support.

Lots of Love,

Maurice's family

Friday, February 25, 2011

Fri, Feb 25 - Dialysis Trial started

Family and Friends,

We continue to feel the love and support, thank you so much.

The medical team have taken the tube out of Maurice's head.  They are observing at the moment.  He had another cat scan and it showed no change.

He also has received Dialysis to assist with the swelling, the Dialysis is a trial at the moment.

Marcia and Mechele will be flying back to Boston tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Wed - Feb 23 - Maurice is struggling

Friends and Family,

If you have tried commenting and where unable, please try again, my apologies, I had it setup for spam which didn't allow comments without logging in, sorry.

Maurice is struggling at the moment.

His Nurse said he is very swollen, his kidneys are getting worse.

Maurice has not accepted the tube in his belly for feeding so they continue to work on this.  He is also still on the ventilator because he started having more breathing issues.

He is fighting but struggling.  The medical teams are trying to make him as comfortable as possible.





Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Tues, Feb 22 - 2 Weeks in - Kidney disease and Pressure

Family and Friends,

Thank you for the continued prayer and support.  I can tell everyone still is hopeful, we appreciate that.

2 weeks today is when this medical nightmare began, we were told he may not survive and here we are 2 weeks later, that is positive - right.....

Maurice's pressure spiked overnight but the medical team have treated this and it has came down.  It is very hard to be dealing with high blood pressure and kidney disease.

Earl and Maurico do feel he is continuing to react to family voices and looks more alert in his eyes.  We don't know what any of this really means though.

The medical team feel they have successfully managed the chest infection but again still having issues with stabilizing his pressure.

Maurice still needs to release more fluid, he is very swollen and the tube in his head is still draining blood and fluid.  They want this to stop draining or drain clear before putting the shunt in.

More tests will continue.

Unfortunately, Maurice will be on dialysis for the rest of his life.  He is not strong enough to receive dialysis yet though.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Monday - Feb 21 - Holding on to Hope

Family and Friends,

Maurice had a brain scan but he is not responding as well as he had been.  He started swelling over the weekend due to fluid and because of his chronic kidney issue he is unable to release enough urine and fluid as needed.

He is not as swollen today but his stomach and kidneys are not functioning at a good level.  The medical team are working on a plan for this.

This is still the beginning of a very fearful situation. 

Earl (brother) is there with Maurico (son) now.

Friday, February 18, 2011

February 18 - Almost ready to breathe on his own

Family and Friends,

We continue to give thanks to everyone.

The hardest for us is not knowing how to comfort Maurice and how much he understands but we are taking it day to day and praying for his strength.

The medical team put the feeding tube in Maurice's stomach so this will allow him to get stronger also.

The positive is that they continue trying to take Maurice off the ventilator, he is on the lowest setting, in order for him to breathe completely on his own.  He is not ready yet but could be any moment now.

He is still giving us Thumbs up....

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Thurs - Feb 17: Another Day

Family and Friends,

Dealing with this crisis has been exhausting for the family, making sure we are getting the best care for Maurice, supporting each other and all that comes with that - emotional stress, decisions, leave of absences from work, responding to numerous queries, fear etc.

There is no real change, Maurice is more alert.  Family and Friends, alert means his eyes are open more often, Maurice is unable to talk, unresponsive on left side, we are unsure what he understands, his reactions are extremely slow. 

He is still in ICU and will be until they consider him to be stable enough to be air ambulanced back to Bermuda.

Tomorrow he will receive the tube in his stomach in order to receive feedings.

Thanks again for all the support and prayers.

Earl (brother to Maurice) will be flying out soon.



Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tuesday, Feb 15 - Trach put in throat

Family and Friends,

Remember we are not clinical so some spellings maybe incorrect or abbreviated.

Maurice looked alert this morning, moving his eyes all around, following your voice, watching the tv etc.

The Neurology team (primarily dealing with function of his brain) came in and tested him, he gave them a thumbs up on the right. (Left side still unresponsive)  He may be slow at times in doing what asked but he does get there most times.  Eg.  giving thumbs up, wiggling toes

Today at 3pm another team came in to put a trach in his throat to assist with breathing, no more tubes in his mouth.  This is a safer and healthier method that will allow him to get better with the pneumonia which he is on antibiotics for.

The medical teams have to be careful with all they give him due to his high blood pressure and chronic kidney failure.

Maurice no longer has a fever which is great.  They are keeping his blood pressure stable.

The Neuro team also said they will discuss a long term rehabilitation process now that they are able to do more tests on him.

Thanks again for the support.

Mechele and Marcia will be back to Bermuda Wednesday, February 16.  Maurico will be here with his father, so pray for Maurico to have the strength to deal with this and for Maurice to gain more strength day to day.




Monday, February 14, 2011

Beginning of Maurice's Journey


Welcome Family and Friends

We have decided to create this blog in order to update everyone and allow you to follow Maurice's recovery.  We appreciate all the love, prayers and best wishes, it has been an abundance of love sent to Maurice and the family and we feel encouraged.

Administrators of blog will be Marcia (sister), Maurico (son) and Mechele (daughter)


Tuesday, February 8

Maurice had a massive stroke approx 6pm.  Bleeding and pressure on the brain.  We were told he may not survive.

Wednesday and Thursday

Was in Bermuda ICU.  Thank you to the medical team.

Friday, February 11

Maurice was flown out by air ambulance 11pm, Maurico flew with him and the flight medics.

Saturday, Feb 12

Mechele and Marcia flew out to join and support Maurico.

-----

Medical Update presently

Maurice is not out of the 'woods' yet but there is glimmer of hope.  He is unresponsive and mostly under sedation.  His pressure went up again last night so they sedated him more.

Please pray for Maurice to get strong enough to take the tube out of his throat.  He is breathing on his own but they are assisting him due to the damage and stress to his body.

He also has pneumonia now so is on antibiotics.

Maurice is unresponsive on his left side but if we ask to wiggle his toes to respond to us he does, which is positive.  He definitely can hear us.

There was a little bleeding from an ulcer in his stomach but it stopped on its own.  The Dr's are not going to intervene due to the pressure and bleeding on the brain.  This is their main priority in order to have Maurice completely stable and breathing on his own.

Thanks again for the continued support, we will try to update daily, late at night or early mornings.

We are happy to receive comments here.

Lots of Love