Some Answers, Some Questions

I spent a good deal of time this evening after things calmed down trying to understand more of what is/has happened in Kirk's head and working on refutes for some things we have previously heard.

First, it appears that Kirk just crashed. That's it. We had been told that maybe he had an aneurism or a stroke which made him fall. He didn't. We won't know how or why he crashed. It just happened. I did go back to the scene and there was nothing to tell me more. I didn't think to ask the one witness. I was too busy keeping my husband alive.

I also learned what is happening in his head and a bit about why. First he has significant bruising, just like on another body part, in two parts of his head. The right rear at the base of his skull where there is also a fracture, and the top, above and left of his eye. There are also many other small bruises. The brain really doesn't like to be exposed to blood outside of vessels so it swells, causing an increase in pressure. The more you can make the person rest, hence the drugs, the less other work the brain does, so it can swell but not cause as much of a pressure increase.

Both of these bruises developed nearly immediately after impact. They existed when he was admitted and he never regained consciousness, he did react to pain and had reactive pupils.

There does remain a question. A major vein on the right rear of Kirk's brain was damaged by the fracture. This however took time to show and did so by forming a clot, no longer allowing blood to leave that side of the brain. Blood now all gas to exit the left side. As this took time to occur it happened after he was sedated and we have no idea the effect. We won't know until the drug weaning starts.

The last ditch drug is last ditch in part due to side effects and due to its irreversibility. The other drugs have lets say reversal drugs. You can give a drug to relatively quickly reverse them. Pentobarbital does not. It can only be reduced and allowed to work out if the system. It will be at least a week before it is out of his system and that's if it is stopped in 48 hours.

To the CT. I am a simple engineer but I have looked at every CT he has had except the first one in the ER. This one was vastly different. I could clearly see the difference in the swelling. The doctors I talked to today said there was a significant decrease in swelling at the base of the skull and it appears he is not in danger any longer of herniating his brain through the spinal column hole at the base of his skull.

We are a week at a minimum from having the smallest clue of what the future is. I pray and hope that we are past the point of questioning if there is a future. We are far for out of the woods.

Thank you again for hanging with us. My words will never express my thanks but I can try.

Kimber