We went to the hospital and there was a group of really close family that was visiting. For now they are still asking that no one come to the hospital. Carson wants to see everyone so bad, he wishes everyone could come, but he is so tired and has a hard time breathing that it is really hard on him to see everyone. I know that not being able to see him is incredibly frustrating, this will test all of our patience.
A couple updates on the injury and his status:
- There is a misconception that Carson was paralyzed from the neck down. That isn't the case. He has full use of both his arms. He is paralyzed from the nipple-line down.
- He can grip a lot better today than he could yesterday which is a great sign that the swelling in his spinal cord is going down, at least a bit.
- He has a bit of difficulty breathing. There is a bit of morphine in him, which can influence your respiration, and the paralysis from his chest down makes it difficult to use his diaphragm.
- Because it is a bit difficult to breath simple things like clearing his throat take a long time. I can only imagine what that must be like!
- Carson has another surgery scheduled tomorrow morning at 7 o' clock in the morning. The second surgery will mostly be to tie up any loose ends from the first surgery. He will remain in the same room for probably another week, then they will probably move him to another unit. By the third surgery we will hopefully have a better understanding to the extent of the injury.
- When Carson talked to his doctors before the first surgery he said that he really wanted to play the piano and flute again. They quickly responded, "We can make that happen." It will take him time to get his dexterity and breath capacity back, but you'd better believe that we'll hear him play for us in the future!
