Thursday morning update...

Its a relief to know that he is now aware of his surroundings.  From now onwards, let us pray and hope for his steady and firm recovery..

This is the email from his sister I received this morning:-

"Edi had the tracheostomy done at 4'ish yesterday (Wed, 18/11).  When we went back at 7.15 pm, we got a scare again.  We waited 50 mins to get clearance to visit ICU and in the meantime, we knew that the doctors were with him.  Were there complications again?  One of the worst experiences is to wait and feel a cold band around your heart outside ICU.  I tried not to focus on fears and negative thoughts.

Edi looked frail - as he is.  He was coughing regularly and gasping a bit.  This was somewhat distressing for us and I held on to the thought that from now on, he's on track to recover.  The nurse on duty said she personally believes that patients are aware even when under sedation, so I reassured him that the next hurdle is to allow the body to recover.  I told him that the doctor (Darren) had said the procedure went very well and they were happy with it.  Darren continued with the info that they knew exactly what they were doing, with the aid of a camera as they looked into his throat.  When Edi gets strong enough (this will take a while, Darren said) they will remove the trachea thingy; Edi will have a scar etc and we laughed that this would be the least of his concerns.

This morning (Thu, 19/11) I was there again at 8.  He's awake and hears everything that's said when spoken to.  His eyes look dull, he's tired but comfortable and I tried to ask what he wanted to know.  He can slowly shook his head but seems to find difficulty with nodding. 

The nurse started "exercising" his lung muscles this morning by taking him off the ventilator and giving him pure oxygen for 10 mins.  This activity encourages his lungs to open up, hence strengthening the muscles, and will be repeated periodically/daily."