Stink Eye

Kent has made some amazing improvements in the last 24 hours. Since we arrived last night he has been taken off the ventilator and the sedatives. They have also decreased his paing medication again and he is down to a 12. He is starting to make faces in his sleep that are typical Kent expressions. Bethany says that he is even starting to sleep more like Kent . . . with his limbs going everywhere.

When he arrived at the ICU he was at a level one. They moved him to a level two yesterday and a level three tonight. His nurse said that in big cities they will move you from the ICU at a level 2. He is doing pretty well responding to commands. The doctor had him open his eye and wiggle his left thumb. The funny part was that the doctor was holding his right hand and looking at this right thumb and Kent wiggled his left thumb. Kent showed him! He also told Kent to stick out his tongue. He must have forgotten that his jaw is wired shut.

Later tonight he opened his eye and started to focus on our dad when he said Kent's name. Ben calls this look the "stink eye" becuase he only opens one eye and gives you a look. When he's better I'm sure we'll all start giving Kent the stink eye. Dad told him to squeeze his hand and he did. He asked him to squeeze it again and he did it again. Tomorrow when they test him with commands they will tell him to squeeze and release. This will indicate even further his brain functions. They use what is called the Glasgow Scale to qualify the level of consciousness following a brain trauma. Here are a couple of links explaining how the scale works:

http://www.ssgfx.com/CP2020/medtech/glossary/glasgow.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Coma_Score

I'm not sure what his score is due to the fact that he can't talk. He did try to open his mouth when he looked at Dad. Again, we are super anxious for him to wake up so we can figure out exactly where he is out. Hopefully we will have even more good news to report in the morning.