[Woodcarver] update on Pat O'Dea

[Jeodea at aol.com]

Hi ,
I have had many inquires from members of the list regarding my  brother Pat's 
condition. Many of you have meet Pat at the woodcarvers roundups  where he 
has taught basic power carving classes. 
 
 
Pat has been in the  intensive care unit of the  Venice Regional Medical 
Center, FL for the past 58 days. He is still in a coma  like condition. He had a 
fungus infection  and a bacterial  infection  in the brain which they did 
surgery to remove. During that surgery it appears he  had a mini-stroke. The good 
news is that the brain now appears infection free,  the swelling caused by the 
surgical intrusion  gone, and there is no  obvious physical damage.  
Occasionally it appears he can hear us and  follow simple commands.
 
The most immediate problem now is reducing the fluid pressures  inside the 
brain caused buy a lack of natural draining of those fluids. The  natural 
draining appears to have been impacted by scar tissue in the  ventricles of the 
brain. The scar tissue was most likely caused by the fungus  infection that was 
removed by surgery in the brain (this is also the infection  which took his knee 
12 years ago). The continued high fluid pressures seem to be  causing his 
coma like state. They have had temporary drain tubes in place which  have let 
staph infections in and don't seem to have worked well. Yesterday they put in a 
permanent drain tube which hopefully  will reduce the fluid pressure in the 
brain as well as reduce the  probability of his getting staph infection. However, 
due to the scar tissue in  the ventricle, this new drain may not work and 
need to be moved or replaced with  another kind.
 
Next immediate problem is getting him off the respirator. He  does breath 
some on his own but not enough. The tube down his throat  has brought a staph 
infection into his lungs that they haven't been able to  get rid of. Yesterday 
they put in a tracheotomy tube to eliminate the mouth tube  and which hopefully 
will  help get him get breathing on his  own.
 
It is just wait and see now. When he awakes, they can assess  any brain 
damage caused by the fungus and the mini-stroke. When all the above is  cleared up 
they can address the cancer on the kidney.
 
If he doesn't awake soon then they will probably transfer him  to a long term 
acute care facility. 
 
You can send him an email card at _http://www.veniceregional.com/ecard/_ 
(http://www.veniceregional.com/ecard/)     use CCU 321 for the room number. we 
read him the cards on the days when we have  indications that he can hear us, we 
save them all for when he  awakes.
 
It is going to be a long haul. When there is any significant  good news I 
will let post another email.
 
Thanks
Jim O'Dea




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