Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Standby...

You are off the ventilator.



You are doing good but not great.

In a perfect world we would extubate you and you would breath beautifully. Like a typical baby. Easy, silent, with no retractions of your chest.

But we don't live in a perfect world, and you are anything but a typical baby.

as always a whole team of people including nurses, respiratory therapist, and Dr's are needed to deal with you
Once the tube was out you turned all shades of purple, had a noticeable stridor (hard wheezing), and your saturation levels were in the 70's (95%-100% is normal) and boy o boy were you MAD!


But once you calmed down your color returned, and the breathing got a little easier. Not great but good enough for now.


I know the Dr's are concerned but I'm not ready to count you out yet. We've been here before. Your throat has been swollen and they were ready to re-intubate you. We gave you more time and you hung in there and then with medication and time you got better.


They are giving you steroids to help with the inflammation. Your back on the high flow and although your working a little hard to breath you look good.


your exhausted!

At the same time all this was happening your IV went bad so they tried to start a new one. Your veins just aren't great right now so after two tries they are giving you a rest and will try again later.

An ABG (test for your oxygen level) was done really soon after and the results were terrible. Nobody believe the are accurate so we are going to let you rest for a while and then re-test you.

Depending on the results you will be able to stay on the high flow or will have to go back on the breathing machine.

The Dr has already come by to tell me that you very may go back on the breathing machine. I'm asking him for a little more time.

So standby....

3 comments:

dxeechick said... Best Blogger Tips

oh baby! he looks so worn out. but he sure is a fighter

Victoria Nelson said... Best Blogger Tips

sweet boy, we bet you are exhausted. that is a lot of work trying to stand your ground amongst all those people! you continue to be the star that you are...
we will be praying for rest, and for accurate vitals and abg's in order to make the best decision...
xo,
victoria

Catherine L said... Best Blogger Tips

This is so so familiar territory for me so my thoughts are entirely with you. The fact he's getting by at all is amazing. Reu just couldn't handle extubation post heart op at all and the result for him was inevitable. As Victoria says, he'll tell you the right decision to be made, it's all in his hands...