Babalu

I don't think he'd mind letting the stripper pull on him, I mean for him.

Thanks for the update, Frank.

I do not know Jeff, but my prayers are with him and his family as they go through this difficult period. I wish them all the best in his recovery and maybe one day I will be able to have a beer with him.
Ron

Update 10/14/2010

Jeff had a fairly quiet long weekend. Yesterday he was more alert. At one point, he had his eyes open for about 20 minutes or so, looking around, making eye contact, tracking and looking at the TV. The OT has been working with Jeff beyond the squeezing the hand thing. They put a wash cloth in his hand and pull on it and Jeff will grip down on it and give some resistance when she tries to pull it away. His wife also has been able to get him to open his mouth when they need to clean his mouth/teeth, etc. And she's gotten him to respond to her by raising his eyebrows, when she asks him to. Next week they are talking about bringing Jeff into the gym, getting him on a mat and really getting him moving.

His doctors have been consulting with the doctors at Spaulding Rehab and the doctor who treated the guy in RI who had EEE. They've come up with some drugs they want to try on Jeff. They are hopeful that the drugs will help to wake him up even further. Apparently it is some combination of drugs that they give to accident victims. He's currently on some antibiotics for a minor issue. Once he's off those, they'll start the new treatment.

Continued prayers and positive thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to hear how these new drugs affect him. Positive thoughts and prayers are always no my mind.

Thanks for the update Frank!

Update: 10/18/2010

Jeff had a good morning today, was awake and alert for a while. His speech therapist continues to work with him on his swallowing, which he's doing great at. His facial expressions are coming back more, he will smile when asked to. He can also stick out his tongue on command. He will also grimace, furl his brow and raise his eyebrows.

He's gaining more and more movement in his left hand and the doctors expect to him to develop movement in his right hand soon. After that they would expect him to develop movement in his legs and feet. His doctors and therapist are happy with progress.

Today they gave him a half a dose of an analeptic (central nervous system stimulant) drug that it used to treat people with narcolepsy and other similar sleep problems. He really didn't seem to react much to that dose. They'll try a full dose on him tomorrow.

Every day he is having periods of alertness. He's now opening his eyes more in reaction to the sounds around him, opening them when he hears people's voices or hears people coming into the room. His cousin was in the other day and he opened his eyes when he heard his voice and kept them open for awhile while he was visiting. When he left he asked Jeff to give him a thumbs up. Jeff opened his eyes and moved his thumb.

Please keep the prayers and positive thoughts flowing

I like the fact that each update has a lot of improvement. He's on his way back.

homebeerbrewer said:

I like the fact that each update has a lot of improvement. He's on his way back.

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+1 to that. Please thank his family for the "thank you" card.

Update: 10/21/2010

Jeff had another pretty good couple days. They still have him on a half a dose of the central nervous system stimulant and he appears to be alert more. Still for only 20 minutes at a time, but he is waking much easier and will have multiple alert periods during the course of the day. Yesterday during therapy Jeff was asked by his therapist to pick up one of his son's Matchbox cars. With a scowl on his face, he refused to do so. His sister got in his face and gave him a piece of her mind and demanded that he pick up the car. He did and did it several more times when she asked him to.

Today he had another good session. They sat him up on the side of his bed and had him picking up objects and dropping them when they asked him to. Towards the end of the session his wife leaned over and kissed Jeff's forehead. The therapist then told her to lean in and ask him for a kiss. She was rewarded with two kisses, she was obviously thrilled.

The doctors and therapists are noticing increased muscle tone in his arm, wrist and neck and they are very happy with his progress lately. Actually most of the staff on the floor are excited about his progress and are in and out giving Jeff their encouragement.

They will be upping the dose on his new meds within the next day or two. With any luck this will wake him even more.

Please keep sending positive thoughts and prayers Jeff's way.

my gosh, i'm away for a short while, and everything breaks loose! jeff, keep plugging away at it!

Glad to hear that improvements are being made.

A quick Jeff update. Apparently when the nurse said good morning to him today he mouthed back the words good morning to her! She also asked him how he slept and he mouthed OK.

That's great! He'll be mouthing the words "I wanna a homebrew" real soon.

frankw said:

A quick Jeff update. Apparently when the nurse said good morning to him today he mouthed back the words good morning to her! She also asked him how he slept and he mouthed OK.

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That's amazing. I don't know why I care, because this is someone I don't know at all, but I sure hope and believe that he will pull out of this awful condition.

passedpawn said:

That's amazing. I don't know why I care, because this is someone I don't know at all, but I sure hope and believe that he will pull out of this awful condition.

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Maybe you're just a nice guy?


PTN

paulthenurse said:

Maybe you're just a nice guy?


PTN

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No, that's not it.

Fantastic news!

passedpawn said:

No, that's not it.

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ummm... you at least have some small spark of empathy and are therefore not a complete sociopath?

Him or me?

paulthenurse said:

Him or me?

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Him.

I'm still reserving judgment about you.

Was out golfing today and was spraying on some mosquito repellant on the first tee and the other guys thought I was nuts, being late october and all. Told them about Babalu and the next thing I know the can is being passed around.

Glad to see he's still progressing.

Glad to hear another good update.

Thanks for the update. Keep us posted.

Great news!

Fan-effing-tastic! I love hearing him improve in leaps and bounds. I am SO GRATEFUL to FrankW for keepin' us posted, too. Prost to him, too!

Drove up to see the big ugly dude today. Definatly making steps in the right direction. I had stopped at my folks house on the way (about 20 minutes south of where he is now) and talked to my Mom about Jeff and what was going on with his illness. Aroma and smell are some of the strongest memory stimulators. I told my Mom that there are smells that will instantly bring us back to another place and tim. And my Mom, 80 + years old says "Apple pie! I've made hundeds of apple pies over my life and every time I smell one I remember peeling apples at my grandmother's house." So I brought along a bag of fresh hops and opened it up under Jeffs nose. And he definately reacted, made a face and kept on makig the face for the whole time I was there. And I kept busting his chops, telling him that I was going to brew tomorrow and more to the point I was going to make a Fullers ESB clone. His wife kept saying how much she liked the Fullers ESB and wouldn't he like to come join me and brew tomorrrow. And he kept screwing up his face and making faces until it was time for me to leave.

Small steps are steps.

Keep on truckin'. Jeff.

PTN

That was pretty mean/schweet. Good to hear he's reacting to stimuli.

B

Glad you could visit him Paul.

Good to hear he's still making mean scowl like faces at you PTN.

Paul, you are such a tease. I bet next time you are in there you will promise him strippers.

Glad to hear he is making progress.

I am sorry if I missed it but, any indications of how he could have contracted the virus?

I have read mosquitoes are the common culprit. Has the local CDC been notified of his condition and taken any measures to verify other cases or mitigate additional exposures?

GilaMinumBeer said:

I am sorry if I missed it but, any indications of how he could have contracted the virus?

I have read mosquitoes are the common culprit. Has the local CDC been notified of his condition and taken any measures to verify other cases or mitigate additional exposures?

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Yes, he contracted the virus from a mosquito bite. The CDC was involved with the diagnosis and were directly involved with his initial treatment.

Jeff was the first Massachusetts man to contract the virus this year, but a Rhode Island man had contracted it a couple weeks earlier, They believe he got it while golfing here in southeastern MA. These were pretty big stories locally and there were several rounds of air and ground spraying to try and reduce the mosquito population.

Update: 10/28/2010

Jeff's making steady progress. He's able to move his left hand, wrist and arm. They had him sitting on the side of his bed today and had him swinging his left leg. He also can move his left foot. And he can now move his right hand. Jeff still isn't talking and he won't really be able to until they can give him a smaller tracheotomy tube. When they do that, they will cap the tube and he should be able to speak.

He's able to answer questions by mouthing the words. He'll answer yes/no type questions as well as open ended questions, like "how are you feeling" or "how'd did you sleep last night" or they'll show him a toy and ask who's toy is this and he'll correctly answer which of his kids it belongs to. He still isn't opening his eyes as much as they were expecting, but he's much more alert. They'll continue to slowly wean him off his phenobarbital, which is one of his anti-seizure meds. And they'll continue to give him the central nervous system stimulant.

It appears to me, that his improvements are coming at a quicker pace. So keep up the prayers and positive thoughts for even quicker progress.

Also, Jeff's probably not going to have much in the way of visitors this weekend. Due to him being in Salem and it being Halloween. So if you're feeling adventurous or you're in the area, please stop by and spend some time with him. PM me if you want visiting info.

I'll make an MS Pain Halloween card for him. That's probably the best I can do.

Glen and I went to see Jeff today. He was worn out by physical therapy, but he knew we were there. His therapist came into the room while we were there, and she brought in a therapy dog. He licked Jeff's feet, but Jeff didn't seem too happy about that.

He mouthed "bye" when we were leaving.

Paul, I asked him to do me a favor and give you the finger the next time you visit.

hi, guys. that's great news. especially about the finger!

homebeerbrewer said:

Paul, I asked him to do me a favor and give you the finger the next time you visit.

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Haha that's the first thing I thought when I read he's regained use of his hands.

Glad to hear he's still making good progress. Tell'em I said to keep up the good work...not that he knows me.

I hope to read about him flipping you off soon PTN. That would be great to remember that, recognize you and do it!

+1 Hoping PTN gets the finger.

good to hear of the steady improvements.