About the injury

This blog was started in order to keep friends and family members informed on the condition of Francisco Baires.  On June 26th Francisco and his girlfriend were mugged.  It was around 2:30am and they were walking home after an evening out.  During the assult, one of the attackers swung a blunt object and knicked Francisco’s forehead.  Francisco reacted and immediately felt pain; however, he seemed to be fine.  The attackers (two males) fled the scene (with no money).

Upon arriving to his girlfriend’s home they tended to Francisco’s bump and stayed up for several hours to make sure that he did not have a concussion.  Francisco seemed to be fine as he talked, walked and even read a little to pass the time.  At 6am they decided to go ahead and go to sleep.

At 7:30am his girlfriend decided to get up.  She noticed that Francisco was not in bed, so she got up and decided to check up on him.  She found him in the restroom passed out face down on the floor and he was nonresponsive.  After checking vital signs, she was able to assess his condition and immediate determine that he had a head injury.  911 was called and he was rushed to the ER.  Upon arrival a CT scan was ordered…the results revealed that he had a large hematoma which was causing pressure and swelling to the brain.  As a result Francisco was rushed off to surgery where underwent a craniotomy in order to drain the blood.

At 12:30pm arrived to the Trama/Surgical ICU at University Medical Center in Tucson.  Francisco was not showing an change in responsiveness.  Throughout the day, the Glasgow Coma Scale was used to evalutated his condition.  There was no eye response or verbal response based on the scales.  One eye was dilating when exposed to light and the other was completely fixed and not reacting.  On the motor response he was at the bottom of the scale…no movement.

At 6:30pm Francisco was taken in for his 2nd CT Scan.  The scans looked a lot better compared to the first one, but Francisco was not showing any changes in his condition.  He was on a ventilator and a feeding tube.  During this time his temperature started to rise and there was some concern that this might be due to damage to the brain stem.  Meds to lower the temperature and reduce the swelling of the brain were ordered.  The meds for the swelling were administered, but Francisco was able to bring down his temperature on his own, which was a good sign.

At the end of June 26th the medical staff informed the family that the journey ahead would not be a sprint but a marathon.  There was still a lot of unknowns and each hour would bring about something new.  The journey ahead is a long one and it is my prayer that each of us can learn something about ourselves and each other during this journey that make us better people.  I say that because I know that is what my brother would want.