Day 3 - December 24, 2012

The nurses began to reheat Dad overnight and by noon today he had reached normal temperature.  The monitoring that takes place during the rewarming process is very important.  I kind of think of this whole cooling process as a car engine that has been made to slowly idle, and now that we are rewarming, we are hitting the accelerator.  His heart has been stable at the slower rate during cooling, but they need to monitor the reaction of his heart as he is warmed.  His electrolytes have been balanced, but they need to closely monitor for changes as he is warmed.  He hasn't shown any seizure activity so far, but they need to closely monitor for seizures as he is warmed.  Based on all accounts, there have been no major issues during the rewarming process and for that we are very thankful.

At about noon, Dr. M turned off his sedative (propofal) and we all sat anxiously hoping and praying that he would wake up.  At about 4:30pm, we saw our first promising signs.  He was coughing/gagging on the ventilator tube and half opened his eyes. Uncle Tim and I were back with him at the time and became very animated, encouraging him to open his eyes and look at us.   We got him to begin turning his head towards our voices and he began moving his arms slightly more than before. Between 4:30 and 6:30 there were several times when people talking loudly at Dad could
get his attention and get him to open his eyes slightly. His biggest response at that point was as a result of singing the East Jackson High School fight song.  My aunts sang to him and got him opening his eyes and turning his head quite a bit. 

Around 8:30, my sister Aubrey pass along that dad was becoming more and more awake. He began keeping his eyes open for a longer period of time and moving his arms and legs as if to try to get more comfortable. It's pretty clear that he does not like the tube down his throat for the ventilator and
that in general he just is trying to find a comfortable position. I came back and sat with my dad from 11 o'clock till 1:00 AM on Christmas Day.  There were two or three time periods where he became agitated and would open his eyes and somewhat track the sound of my voice. He seems to be getting better it's just taking baby steps and being patient.