a very positive update

Scott has been so helpful keeping the family updated via email. Unfortunately, he's leaving on a business trip this morning, so I'm not sure how often we'll be getting this good, detailed information. This is Scott's most recent email to us, and it brought tears of relief. The parenthetical remarks are mine.

"Spencer came back from the MRI, and Jim Gebhard (a family friend who happens to be an orthopedic surgeon specializing in the spine) was there to review the results with us. He gave us a lot of detailed information as he pulled up each of the radiology results, both before and after the surgeries. First, the second MRI confirms only the results of the first. Very slight bruising in the spinal cord, but in a position that could explain the limited exercising of the left side. Just to show up the latest line of thought, Spencer decided to stretch as he was getting hooked up to the equipment in the ICU. He pulled his left arm almost up to his chin (he was showing little movement on this side) and lifted both legs simultaneously a couple of times (how cool is that?!). He found the tubes down his mouth, but did not pull them out (an indication of decreased agitation). Earlier in the day, Dad noticed that Spencer was trying to open his right eye (the good one). He opened it a little for him and said,"Spencer, it's Dad. Look over here." And he did (whenever Spencer responds to verbal communication, it makes me tear up). Then after 8pm when Dad and Jen went back after dinner, the male nurse said he told Spencer if he would not pull out the tubes, he would remove the arm restraints and let him scratch whatever he wanted (even unconscious, you could tell Spencer was irritated with all these probes and tape all over his body). Spencer relaxed his arm, waited until the arm was free, and scratched his forehead. When he moved to his left eye (covered in a lot of gauze and a patch), the nurse told him not to touch that, so he put his hand back down (WOW!). This is so encouraging. The only thing I think we can hope for more is to have the pain reduce so he can tolerate coming to consciousness and talk to us!"

I'm so anxious for Spencer to regain consciousness, though I need to keep reminding myself that his body and brain need this time to rebuild and heal. But, it's hard to think that he's in so much pain that the only way to deal with it is to stay unconscious. What a relief to be seeing so much out of him at this point! Phew! Jen's best friend, Christine, is flying in today to be there with them. I think that will be very helpful.