5 March Update - Take a deep breath

Heartiest congratulations to all those of Mike's squad who took part in the Ironman and achieved their objectives, and commiserations to any who found that it was just not their day. Big congratulations in particular to Ben Schurr who was in the accident with Mike, yet mustered the concentration and will power to swim for over an hour, cycle for almost 6 hours at over 30 k an hour (unassisted) and then tell his body that it now had to run a marathon -- which it did in 3.5 hours. Mike will be delighted with your effort Ben.

Now for some unwelcome news. The hospital staff organised a family conference on Friday afternoon. Contrary to our earlier more informal advice, they told us that the MRI scan done on Mike was 'not good'. It confirmed the presence of the sort of diffuse brain damage that would be expected from the rapid deceleration of the brain in the skull caused by a head-on crash. On thinking about it, this is of course consistent with Mike's slow recovery. He is still unconscious 13 days after the crash - yes, his eyes sometimes open and he sometimes responds to commands, but he is not yet swallowing consistently, and he doesn't respond consistently, nor does he seem to generally follow what is happening around him. Due to the diffuse nature of the brain damage, the hospital staff do not know what sort of long-term disabilities he might suffer.
The hospital staff say that they do not make predictions in individual cases because they have been proven to be wrong time and time again. This is confirmed by the many anecdotes relayed by friends and well-wishers of people they have known who have recovered amazingly from serious head injuries. We have decided that we must plan for likely scenarios, but still hope that Mike will perform way above the norm for someone with his injuries. We agree with Mike's friends that if anyone can do it, he can do it.
The hospital staff advise that the quality of care in Wellington would be as good as in Auckland. Since Mike's close family is concentrated in Wellington it makes sense to shift him down there, possibly in the next week or two. We hope to get the chance for you to visit him before this, if the hospital agrees.

Posted by Mike's Dad.









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4 March Update -- Ironman Special

Mike smiled a second time today when Lee told him that one of Bryce's former bosses, Chet, had said that Bryce was a stubborn bastard so that if Mike was the same, that made two stubborn bastards.
Tomorrow is the Taupo Ironman event that Mike had set his extracurricular heart on achieving in a good time. We all know that the only thing that would have thrilled Mike as much as achieving a good time himself (11 hours or under?) is knowing that his friends in the squad had also achieved great times compared to their expectations. So we are sure that if Mike had enough consciousness to know what had happened he would be urging his mates on tonight. Courtesy of Jonathon Walbridge, First NZ Capital, and Ben Schurr (Fonterra)each of Mike's colleagues will have in their emergency ration kits for the marathon leg of the event a card from Mike saying "Efficient Form! Mike". Those of you who are economists (like Mike) will appreciate that efficiency is the key to obtaining maximum benefits from limited resources -- in this case fitness and energy. Lee, not being an economist, thought it was ridiculous of Mike, to tell her a few weeks ago that she was not allowed to barrack him tomorrow by crying "go Mike!", because he might then loose "efficient form" and run too hard too early.
Mike's ironman mates (male and female) have been a marvellous support to us and to him since his accident and our thoughts and hopes will be with them tomorrow. Keep your minds focused, don't get over- excited and blow out early. In short, keep efficient form! May the force be with you.
More news on Mike tomorrow -- after the main event.
Mike's Dad

3rd March update

Quite good progress today. Mike is more aware. Bryce reminded Mike that we called him 'Concrete Head' when he was little. That raised a lopsided smile and a small thumbs up gesture. On and off during the day he had his eyes open and seemed aware of who was there. When he first noticed Tracy it was clear he was puzzled as to why she was here and not in the UK. We're training him up on a code of one hand squeeze for 'yes' and two squeezes for 'no'. The rest of the time he is still not very conscious and seems to tire really quickly. We don't know if he is trying to talk because the tracheotomy prevents him speaking.

I told him that you Ironmen had gone to Taupo and I'm sure he kind of knew what I meant - greatly helped by Louisa's wonderful donation of her 2004 Ironman Medal.

We do appreciate the holding back of visitors. From watching the other head injury cases on the ward, there's a stage of real confusion and agitation as the patients come out of the coma. The main stability is apparently the voices of the aged parents!

2nd March Update

The physiotherapists got Mike sitting up in a wheelchair today for 30 minutes. He was more alert than before, but still far from fully conscious. The idea in sitting him up is to help him to regain control of swallowing and coughing. The experience seemed to exhaust him and he spent the rest of the day in a largely unresponsive state. He opened his eyes while in the wheelchair and could move them left or right on instruction, but with some effort. No sign of recognition or awareness in his eyes. Perhaps I need to improve my appearance, or perhaps he does not think I would make a good ironman 'father and son' partner. We are all realising that this is a long haul effort. Is he unconscious or is he just sleeping? Apparently the distinction is debatable clinically. It is nice to be by him and he seems to enjoy physical exercise, particularly hamstring stretches.
Mike's Dad

1st March Update

Lee here this time. Our eerie head injury world continues. Mike had an MRI scan last night and they could not find evidence of diffuse brain injury. This does not mean that he doesn't have it, just that the scan didn't show it. It does mean however that the injury can't be massive because that should have showed up.

This morning the physios (who happen to be friends of Kylie's) got him sat up and worked on teaching him to hold his head up. While it was heartbreaking to see his weakness and lack of consciousness, it was still progress. He was able to respond a bit to instructions and got his eyes partly open, but I don't think he was focusing at all.

The Ironmen and women are gradually leaving for the Taupo Ironman this weekend. They have been fantastic support and inspiration. We will miss them. Thanks guys. It's so exciting to see you nervously head off. Mike's heart is with you all. Our very very best wishes. Bryce is reading all the multisport magazines Paul left. I'm not sure I will forgive you if he decides to train for the Ironman, but que sera. He just read this and says he welcomes any tips on how to deal with no cartilage in his left knee.

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Update - 28 February

Hi all, Tracy speaking (I should get this blog sorted out with different identities for each of us in the family)

News

Mike opened his eyes today, when firmly told to do so by Araminta, his physiotherapist, so we're very happy. He also squeezed Mum's hand, when Mum was holding his left, when Dad asked him to squeeze his right hand. (Maybe he will come out of this a left-hander, like his brother and sister and a fair few cousins.) Again, we can't get our hopes up too much, and there is a strong likelihood he'll spend the next few weeks sometimes improving in responsiveness and sometimes being less responsive, but it's a promising sign.

As you can guess, he had his first visit from the physiotherapists today. Araminta is a friend of Kylie's, and so is Anna, who will be his speech therapist, so it's good to know that they're personally involved. They made Mike do his first bicycling exercises today, so all you Ironman competitors had better look out.

Visits

Mum & Dad had a long talk to the charge nurse today, and we've had some more instructions about visitors. Apparently the important thing for the next couple of weeks is to keep Mike from getting tired or agitated. The nurse says that visits should be restricted to members of the immediate family, since he has the longest memories of us. We are to not talk too much, and when we do we should talk about things he already knows. Mike can now get cards - he's already building up a nice collection - and we'll read them to him. But please don't make plans to visit until further notice.

Again, thank you to everyone for all your support over the last week and for all the comments on this blog.

Communication breakthrough

Well we finally have a little lift off. Mike's Mum told him tonight (in her usual bossy way) to squeeze her hand and he did! So then she repeated the instruction and he responded again. We don't dare hope too much, but this should be the start of what they call 'purposeful movement' - where Mike's brain is a bit more in command of his muscles.

Visiting Mike

Ward 81 visiting hours are 11-1pm and 3-8pm. However, Mike's Mum & Dad would like some time alone with him each day, so if you can please visit Mike between 12 & 1 pm, or 4 to 7 pm.

Talk to Mike lots and keep everything positive. Keep explaining who you are and what you are doing. Head injury patients get tired very quickly, so if he seems to be getting agitated just cut your visit short.

Mike is very sweaty, but this just seems to be part of the head injury process. We will try to keep a damp cloth by his bed and do feel free to mop him down.

Kylie has made a journal book which we will also keep by his bed. When you visit, if you get a chance to write a message in the journal, we think it will help Mike when he regains consciousness. If you write what you notice about how he is behaving, this will help his therapists.