Family Meeting with Cavit staff

We had our first family meeting with the staff at Cavit today.

There was plenty of good news. Given his progress at swallowing and coughing and the encouraging findings from his ENT inspection on Monday, his trachy is likely to be out in a matter of days rather than weeks. Then they would wait to see how he handles that before taking the peg out of his stomach. So that step is weeks away rather than days away (all assuming no setbacks of course). The ENT inspection is also encouraging in respect of his vocal chords, etc, and therefore his ability to speak. But of course his actual ability remains to be revealed. In many other ways his progress (eg listening and understanding) has been"superb".

The bad news is that staff say that his health is very fragile, medically. There is a concern about infection and about his failure to sleep well. Apparently last night was the first night since his readmission to Cavit during which he has slept at all satisfactorily. The staff attribute that in good part to reduced numbers of visitors yesterday, compared to the weekend. They believe that his failure to sleep well is likely due to exhaustion from over-stimulation.

Obviously, making sure that he gets enough rest has to be a high priority right now, at least until he is sleeping better and in a more robust state. The staff think that he needs the (quiet) company of immediate family for reasons of familiarity and reassurance.

After some discussion, we reached the following gameplan in respect of visiting arrangements:
(1) We ask all Mike's friends, cussies and colleagues to (continue to) refrain from visiting Mike until further notice;
(2) Where you need to be an exception -- eg because you are just heading off for your OE and won't be able to visit Mike later -- please call Lee 021 455 326.
(3) Once or twice a day, one of us will call Cavit and ascertain whether Mike is in a condition at that time to take some visitors. If so, we will post a blog telling you this. (Staff say that his condition is so unstable that his capacity for visitors can change almost hourly.)
(4) Please don't visit even then if you might be carrying a bug;
(5) If you do get to visit, please aim to make it between 3pm and 5 pm, and limit it to 10 minutes, and keep it restful.
(6) Make sure in particular that you do not visit between 1 pm and 3 pm. This is when they are trying to keep the area quiet for all patients.
(7) If you do visit, please use the hand-cleaner on the table on the left immediately inside the entrance door.
(8) If all else fails, please call Cavit ABI Rehabilitation directly on 04 570 9284 to check on Mike's ability to take visitors.

We know these are hard restrictions, not just for you but we suspect for Mike as well. However, if it is in Mike's best interests for now, so be it.

Meantime, if you want to send any messages to Mike, please post them on the blog. Lee is doing a daily reading to Mike of your postings. He is keenly interested and it will not surprise you to know that Mike thinks they should all be replied too. However, it seems clear that Mike can't go 'online' until his condition is much more stable.

All in all, we can all be thankful and encouraged by the confirmation of Mike's superb progress, notwithstanding the long, difficult, even hazardous, road ahead.

Mike's Dad