Putting His Foot Down

Andrew decided today that he really didn't like the high frequency ventilator. In the morning, he had a high heart rate and blood pressure, so they gave him extra doses of Ativan, along with some morphine. It didn't seem to have any effect on him, and they went up on his sedative drip. They also had to turn up the ventilator pressure.

I was in Sacramento all day, but met up with D at the hospital in the afternoon. We noticed that he was moving quite a bit; with the paralytic, 'quite a bit' means that he was moving his foot slightly, pointing his finger on one hand, slightly moving his other arm, opening his eye and occasionally breathing on his own. Since breathing above the hi-fi can cause problems, this is generally where they would turn up they paralytic.

After talking to the doctor, they decided that perhaps Andrew should stay on the same dosage, but be transfered to the conventional ventilator. He still wasn't down to minimal settings on the hi-fi, so this was a bit unexpected, but we were certainly in favor of the switch. So, as of 6pm this evening, Andrew has been on the normal vent. His blood gas tests have been better than they were before the change, and they've even started to wean his settings. Let's hope he can keep it up.

There weren't many other changes today. They'll likely start to turn down the dosage on the paralytic, as he won't be able to fully breathe on his own until it's gone. Since the major development occurred so late in the day, we haven't talked to the doctor about a timeline for his next steps.