Chase Rejected his Doctor and Defied Medical Logic

Last Friday, Chase’s Neurosurgeon came over to assess his shunt site and drain the excess fluid. We were anxious to show the doctor how much more responsiveness Chase has had lately but he didn’t seem to want to cooperate. Over the course of about an hour, Chase wouldn’t budge or indicate the slightest response. Even when we did the breathing test again, he barely took one shallow breath over a few minutes, which was really concerning.

Of course, the Neurosurgeon took the opportunity to remind us that he was pretty certain that Chase could not be responsive since he is essentially brain dead. Although this wasn’t surprising, it was nonetheless very frustrating because we know otherwise, particularly given Chase’s recent improvements.

After the doctor left, I went back to see Chase and told him I was worried about him. When I asked if he was OK, Chase pulled up his leg (as he has in the recent past to communicate). I was extremely relieved (although frustrated with his lack of cooperation – I can’t blame him for not liking the docs who are trying to convince us to “give it up”). Then, I noticed that Chase was breathing over his ventilator so I changed the settings to allow him to breathe on his own, with pressure support to ensure that his lungs remained full. He managed to tolerate this for about an hour – the longest in quite a while. The following day, Chase triggered his own breathing for about 8 hours – simply unbelievable, given what happened during the doctor’s visit the prior day.

I called the doctor back and explained that it seems Chase just doesn’t want to cooperate with him and if he wants to observe for himself how well Chase is doing, we’ll need to use a webcam. We set this up over the weekend and it’s working; we’re also video taping Chase’s movements and breathing, which is continuing to go well. However, the shunt site is accumulating fluid again and will probably need to be drained soon – this might actually be a good sign in that we will be able to provide additional pressure relief. We’re having the fluid tested to get more definitive information on what exactly it is and where it’s coming from (although we believe it’s debris from the dead tissue, along with spinal fluid). We also know that the removal of the dead tissue is our gating factor to get the tumor to shrink and relieve the pressure on the brainstem – this drainage might represent progress with this key issue.

During our collective prayer session tonight at 9 pm EST, we’ll be thanking God for the continued progress that we’re seeing, particularly with Chase’s breathing. We’re praying that this will soon enable Chase to breathe completely on his own once again. Thanks to all the Prayer Warriors for joining us in this intention and supporting Chase’s recovery.

God Bless!

John & Carol
Chase & Barbara Ann