Pain

Kevin had a rough day on Friday. Through this whole process, he thankfully hasn’t had too much pain. However, he started complaining of a headache a few days ago, and it was much worse Friday morning. He was very sedated from pain and anxiety medications and couldn’t communicate if he still had a headache, but his heart rate and blood pressure were sky high. This signaled to us that he was still in a lot of pain.

They took another CT scan to figure out if any new developments were causing his headache. The CT did not show any major new problems. However, it did show that the doctors can’t remove one tube as quickly as they would like. One tumor is nearly blocking off a ventricle in his brain that holds cerebrospinal fluid. A lot of fluid is trying to sneak through a very narrow opening, so the pressure can build up quickly. When Kevin went into the ICU again two weeks ago, they put a tube in his head to relieve this pressure by draining some cerebrospinal fluid. This past week, the doctors were gradually taking that tube out. However, the CT showed that the ventricles were enlarged, which means they needed more help draining fluid. This would have caused the headache. They put the tube all the way back in, and plan to keep it in at least until radiation is finished.

We obviously wish Kevin could drain fluid on his own, as the tube invites risk of infection. However, if this is what the circumstances call for, then we’re happy it was discovered before something worse happened. Plus, for the moment, the drain will eliminate Kevin’s splitting headaches.

This weekend, Kevin has been much more calm. He is exhausted and sleepy, but he has a more normal heart rate and blood pressure. He’s still hooked up to the ventilator, but he is breathing under his own power most of the time. We wish that the brain would reabsorb blood more quickly, but while we’re waiting for that to happen, we’re holding onto hope for a positive outcome.