As a phoenix out of the ashes…

How does one describe and live in the shadowy brilliance of The Mystery?  This weekend Jeremy has made phenomenal progress on his journey.  Over the last week Jeremy began sitting on the side of the hospital bed with assistance.  Friday found him cruising the halls of the Neuro floor in a cardiac chair.  By Saturday he was spending longer periods of time sitting in his chair, having extended conversations, and taking a pencil in hand placing it on a dot on a sheet on paper and then drawing a line to another dot.  This young man continues to astound the odds on his rise from the throes of a devastating injury.  He truly is a phenomenon.

Jeremy has been able to demonstrate a full range of emotions…smiling and laughing at jokes (even ones that are questionable as to their relative humor), contemplation, sadness, fear, anger, frustration, happiness, and boredom.  While there are moments of childlike frustration with the inability to master a movement, thought, or verbal expression, there are also moments of childlike tenderness.

While Jeremy’s sheer will to survive combined with the faith, thoughts, prayers, and positive energy of many brought us to this place, one can only sit back and wonder what else is in store.  When The Mystery takes hold of our lives, we are left to consider not only how we got to this place; but also what is possible.  As we could never have foreseen this outcome…we can also only imagine what may lay in store for Jeremy.  This fascinating journey has only just begun…GO Jeremy GO!!!

Navigating the Bunny Slope on the way to The Giant Slalom...

YEAH!!! Go Jeremy Go!!!  Jeremy has graduated from the Neuro Intensive Care Unit to a Neuro step down unit.  In the last couple of days he has been finding his way back to the level of functioning prior to his surgery.  He is beginning to express himself again…he has mastered yes and no…and has articulated that he is “frustrated” at times.  Jeremy (with assistance) is sitting on the side of his bed and working to re-establish some movement on his right side.  To date there is still some degree of swelling on the left side of his brain which could therefore have an effect on the maneuvering of his right side.  As Jeremy is only seven days out of an extensively invasive brain surgery, it is within reason to hope that as the swelling abates the functionality will return to the baseline prior to surgery.

            It is difficult to ascertain how much of Jeremy cognition has been affected.  His present day to day memory seems to be maintained; however, his memory of the events leading to his hospitalization is quite limited.  These memory challenges create for Jeremy a sense of frustration and confusion in trying to understand how and why he is in this position.  It is also difficult to assess any effect on his long term memory until he verbal abilities improve.

            Six weeks of a hospital bed would create a challenge for most of us.  Being confined to a bed without the ability to articulate emotion or reasoning and without a firm grasp on how you got there is a daunting task.  While Jeremy has his days of “frustration”, there are certainly indications that he is still up to the challenge of building his skills to move off the “Bunny slope” and progress up the mountain toward the gates of “The Giant Slalom” of communication and navigation.

            Your cards, letters, and messages are a constant reminder of how many people are behind him and supporting him in all his efforts.  Thank you again for all of the prayers, thoughts, and warm feelings.  As each of these cards are read to him, they ABSOLUTELY make a difference in his approach to the day.

            Keep up mantra going…GO Jeremy GO!!!

A Week of “thanks…giving” comes to a tremendous close

After a difficult Friday…Saturday was a day filled with sighs of relief and many heartfelt smiles.  Late Friday night there were signs of possible good things to come and sure enough on Saturday...Jeremy did what he has been doing for the last five weeks.  Jeremy left the “odds” in the dust and successfully sustained his extubation (removal of the breathing machine necessary for his surgery).  Through the remainder of day he was somewhat “antsy” but maintained all his vitals well within normal limits.  

Today Jeremy has responded to commands…smiled appropriately indicating his sense of humor is intact…and attempted to forms words.  There are periods of a lot of activity followed by indications of headaches, then periods of rest.  All of these things expected.  It is still too soon to tell what Jeremy’s baseline of abilities will be following surgery, but early indications are that there is little if any decrease in abilities.

What a week it has been…so many things for which to be thankful: 

¥       Life…The amazing ability of a young man to challenge all the odds and fight to recover from a devastating brain hemorrhage and a 17 hr marathon surgery.

¥       Neurosurgeons…Individuals dedicated to detail and precision; exhilarated and challenged by the intricacies and cutting edge frontier of the brain and willing to allow collaboration with the mysteries of life

¥       Family & friends (old& new & and cyber acquaintances).  How does one begin to value all of the thoughts, prayers, and positive energy being sent in Jeremy’s direction?  How can there be enough “thank you”s said to come close to the depth of gratitude we feel?  Know please that all of the prayers, well wishes, emails and cards, are truly appreciated.

¥       The Sacred…the home of faith…where the words of individual prayers and the energy of thoughts are combined to initiate a mysterious response in the body of another which defies explanation and demands a sense of humility and awe.

¥       Love…the force connecting us all…a mother to a son…a sister to a brother…a father to a son…a brother to a brother…a daughter to a father…friend to friend…grandparent to grandchild…uncle to nephew…aunt to nephew…cousin to cousin…   Thank you for opening your heart…your connection to Jeremy and your expression through thoughts, prayers, or simply visiting this blog is vital to the drive to encourage, support and empower Jeremy.

The rally chant continues…Go Jeremy Go!!!!

Hurry up and wait…

Today has been a difficult day.  This morning the doctors removed the ventilator.  Jeremy was able to maintain his oxygen saturation in his blood for about one hour.  After that he simply tired out and the doctors needed to reintubate him.  Jeremy also struggled with maintaining his blood pressure early on today.  For the first part of the day his pressure was running very low.  As the day drew on his blood pressure began to be more controlled.  Jeremy is only 48hrs out of surgery; given the complex nature of his surgery and the sheer length of the surgery itself this response is certainly not unusual.  Jeremy has actually been awake most of the day.  With some rest tonight and a greater time away from surgery, it is hopeful that tomorrow the doctors will have more success with the extubation.  

On a more positive note, Jeremy recognized and responded to his mother as she sat by his bedside today.  He continues to press on the road to recovery...“Go Jeremy Go”!!!

Thanks to each of you continuing to visit this blog offering your prayers and support.  

"We have liftoff..."

We are now at 24 hours post op.  This morning Jeremy was taken to radiology for an angiogram.  The reports from the doctors are that so far everything looks great and they are very encouraged.  For a few moments this morning they lifted the sedation and Jeremy opened his eyes.  This evening with his mom at the bedside they once again lifted the sedation and Jeremy opened his eyes and squeezed his mother’s hand.  How is that for a Thanksgiving miracle?  It is hard to describe the relief, determination, and gratefulness of a mother’s heart.  While they sedated him again quickly thereafter, he has come out of the anesthetic fog long enough to communicate and declare once again his willingness to push forward and achieve what seems impossible.  To that we cheer with fervor…“Go Jeremy Go”

“To sleep…perchance to dream”

Well a 5-6 hr surgery stretched through the day into an almost 17 hour surgery.  While the surgery went a great deal longer than anticipated, the surgeons feel like Jeremy did well.  The doctors were very pleased with the way things went.  The AVM was very large extending into one of the ventricles in the brain with several smaller AVMs coming off the original.  With this level of complexity, it is no wonder the surgery required the enormous length of time.  For the next 12-24 hours Jeremy will remain sedated and be closely monitored in the Neuro intensive care unit.  The doctors indicated that there may be a slight amount of regression in his abilities, but given Jeremy miraculous progress over the last four weeks it is hard to say.

While this period of sleep has been long and intense for friends and family, it is my hope that for Jeremy the time has been a time to dream.  With any luck for 24 hours Jeremy has been able to realize a break from the reality of his fight and enjoy a virtual place where “normal” has nothing to do with a hospital.

Happy Thanksgiving…today the meaning is profound and intense.  Turkey with all the trimmings…thankful; a TV on which you watch the game…thankful; the life of your son saved by amazing neurosurgeons…a lifetime of gratitude.  

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers…the journey continues…please continue to walk with us.  Thanks for all the cards and well wishes.  Please keep up these contacts…each card or letter is read to Jeremy by his mom.  Jeremy will be pleased to hear all your thoughts and encouragement as he truly starts his road to recovery.  The address for cards or letters is:

Jeremy Shugrue
Neuro ICU
KU Medical Center
3901 Rainbow Blvd
Kansas City, KS  66160

Surgery Status Report...

Report from the OR team is that Jeremy’s surgery is going well and his condition is stable.  The physician, however do not expect to be finished with the surgery until 5-6pm(CST) so keep those thoughts and prayers going.  We will continue to update the blog as the information on his progress changes.