November 5 2008

Day 2 Evening



Dennis was able to have visitors for an hour or so, and Cody Epps came to watch over him. (this became a nightly visit that Cody never missed) Dennis was pretty tired at this point and spent most of the time sleeping, in and out of being aware of who was with him.The doctors talked of the brain swelling increasing for the first 3 days and that this was the critical period, since in a closed head wound there is only room for blood, cerebro-spinal fluid and the brain itself within the skull, and that the swelling creates pressure that lessens the ability to respond to stimulus and presents the problem of the brain swelling becoming so pronounced that the brain begins to injure itself, perhaps permanently. At just over 24 hours, it was possible to be positive at this point, and see this injury as just much more severe than a concussion (an injury we had sustained when we were young-no matter how many centuries ago that was-it accounts for the personality disorder issues); since many of the symptoms and responses were familiar. This would turn out to be a convenient delusion as the days wore on. The one constant in the day was Dennis' ability to push through hour after hour, on his own in a place no one else could get to. The unique part of this period was the silence that two people shared for hours, one fighting through the pain and confusion, the other struggling to hold onto faith and sanity.