I admit I was disappointed by the change of events in Vernon’s progress this week.  As long as we are sticking to what the doctors and nurses project, I feel Vernon is totally secure in their hands.  Then suddenly something changes, as its prone to do, and I begin to lose my emotional grip a little. Thankfully, I have wonderful, supportive friends, and I know where to go and cry a bit if I have to.

A friend suggested grief should be like letting the bubbles out of a champagne bottle. If you shake up the bottle and open it up at once, not only will the cork pop out,but the bottle could crack into a million pieces.  If you let the bubbles out a little by little,  and decompress a bit at a time, none of the champagne is lost…and the experience is safer.  She said it better than that. But I loved the picture.  I love the idea of trying to elegantly decompress.  And I was able to use the non-alcoholic version of the story with Maki as he processes his own story, by describing a shaken soda can. Dr. Pepper: unfortunately, something he seems to understand well. 🙂

But enough about me.  I will just say today was a good day after the last couple of hard ones.

Vernon continues to respond well to dialysis (the external kidney machine) so that is a positive. Today, “Doogie Howser” the young genius Orthopedic surgeon (actually called Dr. Wilkins)  came into the room while I was there and told me he had thought about Vernon in his sleep and decided to take off the X-fix frame that has been supporting Vernon’s pelvis since the first surgery on the night of the accident. I don’t know if that meant he dreamt about what to do today or if he just took his mental work home with him and kept thinking on it. Either way, it was comforting that he cared enough.

After the Doctor removed the frame, Vernon’s belly relaxed and became less distended, which is what we had hoped. But on top of that, his ICP (brain pressure: main thing they are keeping tabs on) went down, and they were able to drain him better.  There are so many other things that go on, and I know I am not reporting all of them. Thanks again for Chris (and also my mom) who are able to retain information better than I.

For me, it was just good to see things coming OFF of Vernon.  So much keeps going in, its nice to have it the other way for a change. The doctor actually gave me the X-fix bars (which look like bike parts: Vernon would approve) to take with me as a souvenir.  Maki appreciated them too. Maybe he and daddy can make a fishing pole out of the bits.

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Dr. Wilkins and his assistant accessing some healing wounds, while “sister” Kris watches the numbers. (That’s what I call her, but she aint no nun.)

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our take-home erector set

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Doctor Cummings, the Oral Surgeon, gently taking out a couple of stitches from last week’s jaw surgery. Jaw wiring: a dramatic, yet effective way to lose those extra pounds Vernon had been complaining about.

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