What a shitty experience all round.
Sorry to hear about it.
The words cherry and vein leapt out at me from your original post and I thought, "Oh noes!" but in fact is was worse than my recent experiences anyway :(

Dads had another hospital visit today. Seems like every week. John Radcliffe (Oxford) specialise in head/ brain injuries. Todays diagnosis is not dementia, not epilepsy, not auto-immune disorder but some some of damage to the brain which could have been caused some time ago.

He has to go into the JR for four days. They want to put him on a drip and monitor him.
ASAP.
No beds available at present, wait for a phone call.

I need to convince Mum I am sober and get them to rent a car for me to drive.
The JR is nearly two hours by public transport, she can't be doing that every day, and it's not fair on Dad to be left alone that long.

I've no idea how good they are there, but Mum won't want to risk it given his poor hearing - he'll just smile and nod. If I knew they were like Addenbrooke's I'd just try to reassure Mum that he was in the best place. If they're anything like Stoke Mandeville I'd suggest she booked a B&B and went in to look after him herself. Like they did in debtors' prisons back in Dickens' time.

Sadness.

My lead singer Johnny O took a spill down a flight of stairs. Broke four ribs and hit his head. His brain didn't swell up so that's good, but he's still in hospital 10 days later with low sodium levels.

ten days? that seems like a long time for broken ribs. is there other stuff going on? I admit I don't know much about your clue regarding his low sodium levels.

I wish him the best. get well, soon if possible.

Sorry to hear that, UT. Hope he starts getting better soon!

Best wishes to Sundae's Dad and Johnny O.

Hope it's not inappropriate, but I'm pretty sure there's a blues song in this:

Bit of repetition, a few, "I saiyd"s, guitar line with some syncopated minor thirds ...

There is a natural rhythm there !

Apparently brain trauma can cause low sodium, when the body's total water content increases but the sodium level stays the same.

ah.

I would imagine that if he's receiving hydration in the hospital, they'd give him something balanced like "gatorade" or "saline" (honestly, I don't know what the actual stuff is) but I get your dilution illustration. if they can give him water, it would seem as though they could just as easily add the necessary sodium at the same time.

dude, not a doctor. not bustin your chops. just.. when I've been in the hospital, I have questions, and your post triggered that. I am not interrogating you, I'm just reacting to my own memories of my own experiences.

I sincerely hope for your friend's speedy recovery. Brain injuries are deadly fucking serious and I have little sense of humor about the subject.

Diabetes Insipidus
is most likely what he has. My son dealt with it as well.
There is medication for it, but it can be tricky to get the dosage proper. Every brain injury is different. Age/weight/health are also key factors with all this...
Hope all works out well for him. :(

Visited him in hospital today. He said that he went into a phase where he was speaking nonsense a few days ago. ("How did they know?" I asked. John is a pretty wacky guy when "normal".) He also now has a condition where his right foot bends down at the ankle and he can't bend it back up.

Thats called "foot drop" been there too. Thats caused by a loss of brain signal. Sounds like he suffered a Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI), not just a Blunt Force Trauma. What hospital is he in?

As for the talking none sense. They are REALLY tricky in things they say to elicit certain responses. Brain injury patients are getting "tested" all the time.

He's at Christiana, although we don't know why since he lives in Norristown.

I have an incredible tooth ache that started on Thursday as a mild discomfort and by Friday afternoon was getting worse. I called my dentist only to find out they close on Friday at noon. The tooth is one of my old wisdom teeth that was left in some 40 years ago as it and the one above it came in straight. Well, something is wrong and yesterday I had to resort to taking hydrocodone left over from some past surgery. Now I'm having coffee trying to shake off the grogginess of the pain med. and waiting for 8 am when my dentist opens.

hope you're ok to drive and you get the first appointment, chris

thanks for the informative link classic.

good luck to your friend UT.