Peter Eickbush

Here I am creating this blog for our dear brother Peter, so that that wish can follow his recovery.

On Thursday the 15th of November Peter took a tumble out of a pickup while trying to remove an air tank helping Mike.  It wasn't until Friday morning that we realized that something was terribly wrong with him.  As many of us would have we check him all through the night, making sure that all was well and that he was responding in the proper manner,  Friday morning he stopped responding and was rushed to the hospital.

Friday the 16th.  The doctors did an CT scan and determined that there was bleeding in the brain and that there were large hematomas that required emergency surgery as his stat's were dropping rapidly and we did not want to loose Peter.  We were lucky to have a Doctor from Colorado ON CALL that did the surgery and has been following him ever since.

Saturday the 17th.  The swelling in the brain continued and the doctors ordered another CT scan as the Shunt that was in place was not working, and to make for sure that all the bleeding had stopped at this point. They had no idea of the prognosis at this point and we were all on pins and needles waiting for the answer that we all wanted that Peter was going to be just fine.  We have still yet to hear that answer.:(

Sunday the 18th.  Peter has not responded at all at this point and the doctors are not giving us any Hope that he will recovery at this point and we are all in disbelief. Naomi and I(Joanna) sit vigil at his beside while the rest of the family goes off to meeting to meet with all the Friends and be in the presence of GOD with hopes that God's will be done. After meeting Elmer and Noaleen stop by for a quick visit and to say goodbye before their trip, as we do not know if this will be the last time or not.  We are hopeful but with not improvement and no good word from the doctors or the nurses it is hard to keep your spirits and hopes up.  his blood pressure and heart rate are out of control so we are asked not to talk or touch, which is hard for when a loved one is hurting that is what we want to to the most.

Monday the 19th: Prayers are working and GOD has worked miracles. Peter Has started to respond and Naomi is here to see some of the improvements, not as much as we had hoped for but baby steps at last.

Tuesday the 20th.  The big day has arrived.  During the night Peter has started to over breath the vent machine and the doctors are all in agreement that it is time for him to be off the stinking machine........ Sharleen, Dolly, Laurel, and I sit with him as the nurses remove him from the vent machine all the while he is still a little groggy but his eyes wide open knowingly that they are helping him.  The doctors say that most times you will have to train someone to cough after being on a vent for those many days, not Peter he starts coughing right away and we start talking and encouraging him right away. amazing that he does not have to be on any O2 as on his own he is holding 99-100 O2 stats. His breathing is staying right where it should be.  He gets tired easy but that they say is normal for a brain injury.

Wednesday the 21st.  8am Peter is bright eyed and bushy tailed when I walk into the room.  the doctors are taking out the Cath today and we are excited as we are going to try to get him to eat on his own as we don;t want to have to put in a feeding tube as that is a step backwards,  in brain injury's they feel they can sometimes become "lazy" and let others or other things do the work and so pushing is a great way to stimulate and make sure that doesn't happen. So today Peter was able to eat Pudding, His fav... mashed potato's and gravy and was able to take a few drinks on his own.   We got him sitting up in the chair and was able to keep him stimulated with cartoons of all things....... Dad came down and watched over him for me while I went to work in the afternoon and in the morning Sharleen is going to take the early morning shift while I have a brief break before she cooks Thanksgiving dinner for us all.  I will be spending my day with Peter.  All the doctors are now very impressed with the progress made and we just hope to keep it moving forward at this point.