Jackie’s night was a little restless.  We believe he was having pain in his back from the Lumbar drain.  His body is starting to fight the second infection.  Through testing, the docs have identified the actual strain and have started Jackie on a new antibiotic that will specifically target and get rid of the infection.

Jackie’s neuro skills seemed to be better today. He is not showing much emotion on his face, but he is starting to get most of the skills back that he had before.

The goal now is to continue to fight both of his infections with different antibiotics. It will take a while to complete these courses of treatment.  When it is safe, Jackie may be getting a shunt.  This is done in the OR.  I feel like I am sounding like a broken record, but we just need to take things one day at a time.

Jackie had PT in bed today and did a lot of work on his neck strength.  Jim will work to replicate these exercises over the weekend.  ST also was here and Jackie ate a couple ice chips and made some very quiet sounds.  During this session he snapped his fingers for the first time. Both of these teams will be back next week to work with Jackie.

We are grateful that the docs were able to identify and treat Jackie’s infections right away.  I truly believe that is keeping us out of the OR.

I am going to keep it short tonight as I am in desperate need of a cat nap. Thanks for your positive thoughts and prayers, they are working.