I know everyone has been wanting a solid update on Kamauri’s health status. This is what we know, and the latest from the hospital last evening:
Kamauri has passed the 2 crucial time periods that Dr.’s have been worried about, but he is still in a touch and go situation. He is currently still intubated (breathing tube) and on all the meds to keep him sedated enough to tolerate that, as well as to keep him very still. His head is still open from the initial surgery to allow swelling from his brain to “have somewhere to go” and he still has all of the drains placed in that surgery, that work to remove fluid. Kamauri is breathing over the breathing tube, which means he takes the amount of breaths necessary to not have it, but they still need it due to needing his body sedated to heal. They will look to remove the breathing tube this week. Any amount of stress to Kamauri (pain, movement, etc) causes his blood pressure to raise sometimes, which in turn causes increased ICP (intercranial pressure) so the plan is to go very slow as they take him off life support.
They have reduced the sedation enough, at times, to ask questions, and Kamauri has been able to do the following: squeeze hands when asked by nurses with appropriate response, two evenings ago he tracked dad with his eyes all over the room, and he has moved his limbs when uncomfortable during procedures. They don’t want to stress his body, so they do this and then get him back on sedation to allow him to rest and heal.
Kamauri had an EEG (electro encephalogram) 2 days ago revealing that there is no damage to the brain in the areas that this test measures (nerves and electrical activity of the brain). This is a big deal and very positive, but it doesn’t mean that he won’t have work to do once he is awake. The full prognosis/outcome for him and deficits, if any, will be identified once he is fully awake in combination with testing and imaging. There are certain milestones his body must reach before the next steps are taken to remove life support interventions, this week they will work on reaching those milestones. Please continue to pray for Kamauri’s FULL recovery. I will update again later in the week, or if a major milestone is met. I spoke to dad at the hospital for a few hours last night and he is exhausted…he could barely keep his head up, but he is so grateful to God for the progress so far, and to all of you for the amazing support. He talked for a long time about what this support has meant to him, and being able to stay by Kamauri’s side. His words are quoted below!
