Tiger

October 10, 2012
So many people are responding to this blog, in person and on Facebook and a phone call from a dear friend. It seems there are many who know. Dear Jessica Erickson has commented that she watched him die that day. It's true. We learned later from one of the EMT's that Brian flatlined more than once while they were applying the paddles - which they did at least six times. And the estimated time he was without oxygen was closer to 20 minutes than ten. A miracle? The will of a power greater than human? Or just the will and strength of an incredible young man who would not go down without a fight? 

Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Morning report - pre-doctor assessment - 6:30 AM. Brian is awake, breathing on his own but still minimal response - this is a slow process. Vital signs look great. Temperature back to normal, BP up to normal. Both eyes are open and blinking together, tracking occasionally. Exciting way to start the morning! cardiologist report - Brian is responding to stimuli well. He (doctor) has called in a pulmonary specialist to check the lungs - pneumonia showing on x-rays - may be able to target specific type of pneumonia with a different medication. The doctor did mention the future of not knowing how the brain swelling will affect Brian - maybe different person. Took CT scan in AM - results not back by noon.
Dave slept in motel about 6 hours. 
Not a lot of change since morning - continued response with eyes. A tiring day for Brian with scope down lungs - they are clear of foreign objects, just pneumonia. A day of two-at-a-time visits by students and family.
Cardiologist supplemental report - echocardiogram shows no new blockage but growth of septum to 3 cm.
Brian squeezed Alana's hand this evening, request or spontaneous? Has fever again this evening - limit access for rest & to guard against infection. Senior class brought huge stuffed tiger - Brian's heart rate went way up when delivered.

This gets more difficult for me now. I had forgotten the preliminary hope when he seemed to be awake. The pneumonia was a huge scare and instead of grouping in his room to visit we had to schedule by twos. Whenever we visited, from the beginning, we would talk to Brian and have conversations as though he were a conscious ,part of the gathering. We tried to make the situation as normal as possible, given the surroundings: beeping machinery, curtains, nurses and doctors, tubing, fluids, blinking lights, disinfectant, illness. 
Alana was Brian's new girlfriend, an incredibly brave young woman who stood by him for weeks. 
The cardiac arrest was a result of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart. It's  complicated and worth a detailed description, but basically Brian's heart muscle was too extensive and it sort of smothered the heart and didn't allow it to function properly. It was not smooth, but crisscrossed like a black widow spider web. Plus, the mitral valve was blocked by the enlarged septum, causing the irregular heartbeat - the murmur that our family physician (Dee Christlieb) first heard when Brian was 14. He sent Brian to the cardiologist (Foster) and Brian was diagnosed the day before his 15th birthday. Happy Birthday, young man. You have a heart condition that could kill you. Out went the tongue piercing that had snuck in his mouth : too much risk of infection. 
I remember the tiger so well. Dan Golden, the senior class president, brought it to Brian sometime that night. Later he told us that, when he walked in and spoke to Brian, the heart monitor indicated that Brian's heart rate went up at the sound of Dan's voice. Maybe it was at that point that we all knew we must always be there and keep talking and touching Brian, to help bring him back.
I slept with that tiger every night for most of the next six weeks.