Just a quick update, between procedures:
Nate had the piece of his skull that was removed late Saturday/early Sunday reattached in a 2-hour surgery this afternoon. I’ve been visiting with him in the Intensive Care Unit. Still quite gorked from the anesthesia but as you can see he managed a little smile.
They just wheeled him out of the room for a second CT scan. Several people have asked me how they reattach the bone. One of the surgeons said they use little strips of metal to straddle the divide between the two parts of bone, securing them with tiny screws, and then cover it over with the flap of skin that they’d pulled back during the first procedure.
As best as I’ve been able to determine, much of his long-term memory is intact but short-term memory is quite limited. He will respond a bit when spoken to but not initiate conversation.
Slow improvement. Baby steps.