This is from the Mother in Law of Chris. Gina Niemi, 541-787-2036 Henna Tattoo Artist, Face and Pregnant Belly Painter _www.FantasyFacesOnline.com_ (http://www.fantasyfacesonline.com/)
Glimmer Body Art, Diamond FX, Mehron Paradise, Kryolan, Amerikan Body Art _www.WOWFactorSTuff.com_ (http://www.wowfactorstuff.com/) Fast, Friendly & Affordable! ____________________________________ From: [email protected] To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Sent: 4/5/2010 7:16:13 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time Subj: Fwd: april 2 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Cathy Godric <[email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) > Date: Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 12:47 AM Subject: april 2 To: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) Chris up date April 2: {Hi everyone. Tuesday was a very rough day… (Full moon, confusion, and well…two steps forward and one step back). } Little did I realize… And then Thursday happened and it was even rougher than Tuesday. We had a meeting with the primary doctors who are monitoring Chris’s health. They had asked for Neurologists to come in and consult with them about Chris’ Diffuse Axonal Brain Injury…DAI. But even before they saw Chris, a nurse came out and said that Chris was going to be transferred to Kaiser…We said nooooooo…we hadn’t heard from the doctors…. Then on Thursday we did. Yes, on the Cat-Scan they could see DAI as spots on the surface of the brain. SOME of the neurons have been damaged, but NOT all of them. No, they could not see Chris’s brain using the MRI (higher resolution for a clearer picture) because Chris’s shoulders are 2 inches wider than the machine… There was no need at this time to do an EEG…his brain wave activity, because they do not think he has had seizures. So…the million dollar questions…Will Chris recover from this brain injury? How severe is it? How long will it take? At this time, in Highland ICU, the doctors are getting Chris stabilized…if he had continued breathing on his own without the tubes down his throat and on a ventilator…he would have been stable enough to be transferred to Kaiser’s ICU. However with the diffuse axonal brain injury, where they think that there was shearing of the axons on some of the neurons, the neurologists are recommending that Chris goes to a facility that has ICU as well as a department for Neurological rehabilitation that includes physical and occupational therapies. And then, with Chris progressing we can see to what level he can obtain. He is not a vegetable! He is not brain dead! But we don’t (and neither do these specific doctors, because they are trauma surgeons) know how much Chris will recover. If you have done some research on the internet, you might find a grading scale that helps doctors determine mild, moderate, or severe categories… These numbers cannot be directly correlated to the Cat-scan pictures of the brain (they are like x-rays that take a picture of the brain, like a slice of bread in a loaf. Liz and I were able to see Chris’ cat-scans). The neurologists and the rehabilitation therapists will be able to tell us more… And then there is the family and friend factor. We all had a very emotional afternoon and numb with the prognosis…fear and uncertainty ran rampant as we listened and heard what sounded so dire and final. We all needed to grieve a little, and face the fact that Chris was not going to bounce back right away…BUT that does not mean that he won’t ever bounce back… We as a family and as friends must stay positive, hopeful, and determined to be there for Chris as he faces his challenges. We heard, I wrote, that this will be a long process…and today is the 22 day in ICU!!! No kidding… I’ve pasted in a description of what DAI is and its repercussions. Some of you may want to check out some other websites…they are: (skip to below the Brain Trauma article) #1 _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_axonal_injury_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_axonal_injury) #2 _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_brain_injury_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_brain_injury) #3 _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_and_secondary_brain_injury_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_and_secondary_brain_injury) #4 _http://tbirecovery.org/Overview.html_ (http://tbirecovery.org/Overview.html) (easy to read and understand) this is also a website. #5 Brain Trauma - Axonal Shear Injury (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/enlargemonographimage.php?ID=7663) (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/enlargemonographimage.php?ID=7663) Contrecoup, an injury to the brain often seen in car accidents after high-speed stops, results from the brain bouncing violently against the wall of the skull. This event can cause diffuse axonal injury, also referred to as axonal shearing. This injury involves damage to individual nerve cells (neurons) and loss of connections among neurons which can lead to a breakdown of overall communication among neurons in the brain. (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/enlargemonographimage.php?ID=4039) (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/enlargemonographimage.php?ID=4039) The neuron is the main functional cell of the brain and nervous system, consisting of a cell body (soma), a tail or long nerve fiber (axon), and projections of the cell body called dendrites. The axons travel in tracts or clusters throughout the brain, providing extensive interconnections between brain areas. Mechanism of Injury This damage causes a series of reactions that eventually lead to swelling of the axon and disconnection from the cell body of the neuron. In addition, the part of the neuron that communicates with other neurons degenerates and releases toxic levels of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters into the synapse or space between neurons, damaging neighboring neurons through a secondary neuroexcitatory cascade. Therefore, neurons that were unharmed from the primary trauma suffer damage from this secondary insult. Many of these cells cannot survive the toxicity of the chemical onslaught and initiate programmed cell death, or apoptosis. This process usually takes place within the first 24 to 48 hours after the initial injury, but can be prolonged. (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/enlargemonographimage.php?ID=1870) (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/enlargemonographimage.php?ID=1870) One area of research that shows promise is the study of the role of calcium ion influx into the damaged neuron as a cause of cell death and general brain tissue swelling. Calcium enters nerve cells through damaged channels in the axon's membrane. The excess calcium inside the cell causes the axon to swell and also activates chemicals, called proteases, that break down proteins. One family of proteases, the calpains, are especially damaging to nerve cells because they break down proteins that maintain the structure of the axon. Excess calcium within the cell is also destructive to the cell's mitochondria, structures that produce the cell's energy. Mitochondria soak up excess calcium until they swell and stop functioning. If enough mitochondria are damaged, the nerve cell degenerates. Calcium influx has other damaging effects: it activates destructive enzymes, such as caspases that damage the DNA in the cell and trigger programmed cell death, and it damages sodium channels in the cell membrane, allowing sodium ions to flood the cell as well. Sodium influx exacerbates swelling of the cell body and axon. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke researchers have shown, in both cell and animal studies, that giving specialized chemicals can reduce cell death caused by calcium ion influx. Other researchers have shown that the use of cyclosporin A, which blocks mitochondrial membrane permeability, protects axons from calcium influx. Another avenue of therapeutic intervention is the use of hypothermia (an induced state of low body temperature) to slow the progression of cell death and axon swelling. A researcher studies an image generated by an immunofluorescent microscope to understand cell death in the hippocampus, the section of the brain that controls memory. The hippocampus is frequently affected in traumatic brain injury patients. This technology allows the researchers to study what happens to injured cells at the molecular level, and to look for ways to interrupt the chain of chemical events that causes permanent brain damage after a severe head injury. (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/enlargemonographimage.php?ID=4053) (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/enlargemonographimage.php?ID=4053) In the healthy brain, the chemical glutamate functions as a neurotransmitter, but an excess amount of glutamate in the brain causes neurons to quickly overload from too much excitation, releasing toxic chemicals. These substances poison the chemical environment of surrounding cells, initiating degeneration and programmed cell death. Studies have shown that a group of enzymes called matrix metalloproteinases contribute to the toxicity by breaking down proteins that maintain the structure and order of the extracellular environment. Other research shows that glutamate reacts with calcium and sodium ion channels on the cell membrane, leading to an influx of calcium and sodium ions into the cell. Investigators are looking for ways to decrease the toxic effects of glutamate and other excitatory neurotransmitters. The brain attempts to repair itself after a trauma, and is more successful after mild to moderate injury than after severe injury. Scientists have shown that after diffuse axonal injury neurons can spontaneously adapt and recover by sprouting some of the remaining healthy fibers of the neuron into the spaces once occupied by the degenerated axon. These fibers can develop in such a way that the neuron can resume communication with neighboring neurons. This is a very delicate process and can be disrupted by any of a number of factors, such as neuroexcitation, hypoxia (low oxygen levels), and hypotension (low blood flow). Following trauma, excessive neuroexcitation, that is the electrical activation of nerve cells or fibers, especially disrupts this natural recovery process and can cause sprouting fibers to lose direction and connect with the wrong terminals. Scientists suspect that these misconnections may contribute to some long-term disabilities, such as pain, spasticity, seizures, and memory problems. NINDS researchers are trying to learn more about the brain's natural recovery process and what factors or triggers control it. They hope that through manipulation of these triggers they can increase repair while decreasing misconnections. Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Last Reviewed: October 2002 _Medical/Legal Disclaimer_ (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/disclaimer.php) Copyright © 2003 Nucleus Medical Art, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chris’ left chest tube was removed today. He practiced breathing a little on his own without the ventilator breathing for him… (Spontaneous) but still had the tubes in. It’s the weekend, so they will be keeping him quiet, not cat-scans, moving on off his bed. He will still be suctioned out every two hours by the therapists or the nurses to remove the sticky secretions that are inside his lungs. Perhaps on Tuesday or so, they may schedule Chris for a tracheoscopy. This is not a backwards step but more of a sideways step. The doctors have tried to not involve Chris with another surgery, but the Trach will help him breath on the ventilator, while at the same time, allow for him to practice more frequently off the ventilator without having to put the darn tubes down his throat over and over again. He will need to be fed directly to his stomach because he won’t be able to eat normally and have the trach…but it allows him to start communicating with us by talking. He was responsive to Judy, and Gene, and Liz and Vic and Darlene…I got no reaction, till I rubbed the frown off of Chris’s forehead, and then he squeezed my hand. ( he has been a very frustrated patient today…his heart rate, and blood pressure were high, the fever to 103 came back but Vic, Darlene, Judy, Gene and I got to work real quick with ice cold wash cloths and putting them on his body while waiting for the water blanket to be ordered and delivered. Liz came in this evening, and was in a much more positive spirit today than yesterday. She has also been on the Internet, and found a success story involving a person that had survived defuse axonal brain injury…I believe she has posted it on facebook on the Chris and Savannah update page. We are staying positive and hopeful, with love and perserverence we can all help Chris get through this. Thank you for being there for us. Cathy -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Face Painting and Body Art Association." This is a PG-13 forum dedicated to the discussion of Face Painting and Body Art. 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