UPDATE

5/6/09

Melinda had a quiet morning. Melinda continues to have her respiratory treatments every 4 hours. Melinda had an ultrasound on her arms, legs and chest to see if any blood clots had formed. This is common in anyone that is immobile for a long period of time. The results came back negative. Praise the Lord! Fluid was drained from Melinda's brain yesterday and sent off to see if there was an infection. The results came back today and was negative. Melinda is improving every day. Melinda spiked a fever today but was given lortab to bring it down. Melinda continues to move her arms and opens her eyes for a longer period of time but is still heavily medicated.

Melinda's nurse informed us that the neurosurgeons turned all her medicines off for 10 minutes and tried to get Melinda to respond to commands such as thumbs up and raise 2 fingers. Melinda made movements with her hand but could not distinguish her movements as following commands. The doctors advised us that they would need to wean Melinda off of her pain medicine to assess the level of her brain function.

The doctors stated that Melinda will have her ventilating tubes removed and replaced with a trachea and a feeding tube inserted in to her stomach on Friday. The doctors say this will be more comfortable and less infections for Melinda. We will know more on Friday if Melinda will have surgery on her pelvis.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. With the power of prayer Melinda is improving everyday.