The Coma

For the next three days we visited twice a day to see how things were going and to generally get in the way. We learned that Dad's ICP may have been in the 40's for "some time" before and during the surgery. Normal is 10 (mm Hg) while lying down. While asleep he's on several meds, including one to keep his blood pressure artificially high. This allows more blood profussion to the brain. In addition he is given extra fluids for basically the same reason. This extra fluid, as well as laying around in bed, causes his body (hands, feet, and face esp) to get pretty swollen. I begin calling him Sta-Puff. During these three days his ICP is around 25. He also has a clot in the vein of his left arm. The unusual thing is that is extends almost from the shoulder to his wrist. This may have happened while he layed in surgery for an extended period of time. The normal procedure would be to give him anti-coagulants, but that is out for the time being. Turns out that's not a good thing to give a guy just out of surgery. The decision is to just wait it out.