Welp, an eventful past few days would be putting it lightly in the Black household. Thursday Ryan had a doctor appointment with his orginal neurosurgeon when he was in ICU. We have been praying about this appointment simply becuase of the long car ride from Willis to Houston; with Ryan's aggression, everything seems to be high stress and sometime we catch ourselves walking on eggshells. With God's hand of patience, Ryan did a fantastic job in the car ride and in the hospital waiting room! Ryan had a CT scan administerd to view his brain. The neurosurgeon met with us and informed us that he has a large amount of fluid in his brain. He calmed us by telling us it's not a major concern right now, but it could be hindering and slowing down his recovery process. There are a few options that he gave us when dealing in brain fluid. The first would be to take a spinal tap of the fluid and see with minimized pressure if his recovery is quicker ( we notice within the first 2 days). If we notice significant changes, the next step would be to place a brain stint which would drain the fluid from the brain into his stomach allowing for normal circulation of bodily fluid. Please pray that God gives us guidance into the correct decision for Ryan to better his health.
That night Ryan was very tired and weary, which we did not think anything of becuase it had been a very long day. So he went to bed early and relaxed. The next mornin he refused his breakfast, which is completley uncharacteristic and out of the ordinary and raised some red flags. Ryan told us he didn't feel well. We called his general practitioner to get him into the doctor that day. I went back into his room to check on him about 30 minutes later and he was unresponsive, not answering questions, rarely opening his eyes, and lathargic. We immediately knew something was wrong. Mom and I went into panic mode, got him dressed and with God given strength lifted him out of his bed into his wheelchair and the later into the car. We rushed him to the ER. As we drove to the hospital and continued to talk to Ryan, he slowly became more aware. After 9 hours in the hospital room and many tests later, they found that Ryan had a minor infection. The doctor explained to us that any time a brain injury patient undergoes an infection of any type, affect these patients much differently than you and I. An infection in a TBI patient can cause the body to shut down (much like Ryan's symptoms) or even cause hallucinations or other scary aspects.
These past few days have reminded us how blessed we are. God is continuing to show himself in our lives daily. He continues to awe us with his love and healing. Please continue to pray for Ryan and as you pray, lift up our miraculous Lord and give him continuous thanks!