11/06/2008 - Trying to be calming

On Thursday, Michael and I went to Judith Isaacs' apartment. She is our yoga teacher, and was willing to be recorded talking him through relaxing. We knew Terumi could hear our voices, and we thought there was a chance he might obey her voice. Michael created the world's smallest "boom box" to play the recording in SICU.

When we got to the hospital, he looked good, even though still asleep. We played the recording twice, and each time, he started to cough when he heard it. We were not sure exactly what his reaction meant, but at least it appeared to be a reaction. His blood pressure seemed low on the monitor, but I'm not a doctor. The nurse explained that because of his open abdomen, they couldn't put the sensors where they normally put them. (Later, when I saw Dr. Feldman on Friday, he told me that Terumi's chest had a lot of fluid in it on Thursday, and also that the new steel mesh covering his abdomen had been broken. He said it was very typical; his wife had pulled her tubes completely out.)

Michael and I tried to tell him when his blood pressure was going up on the monitor, and we told him over and over that he was medically asleep, his brain was OK, and he would make a full recovery. We did tell him that he was being kept asleep for a medical reason, and that even so, he could do some helpful and healing things for himself. The most important thing is to lie quietly and not thrash about. Michael said later, "You know, I'm glad he has the strength to thrash about, but on the other hand . . . it's not good to do that with your tummy open."

I received an email asking about Terumi from our good friend Masato Inuyama, and reading his exquisite English, it suddenly struck me that he was the answer to my communication problems because he could understand me 100%. I asked him if he could communicate with Dr. Tsuchiya and Shiro. Between them both perhaps they could brief Shiro on what was happening. This our stalwart, always calm Masato kindly did, so that everyone who needed to, knew exactly what was happening.