Tuesday...Not So Stellar

Dad's oxygen is back at 100% and he is having trouble staying above 90% oxygenation level. 

His chest xray was worse and the pneumonia is worse.  There is blood in his respirator tube.  They are not sure why.

For various reasons, they are having to switch up his medicines.  Because of this, they are having trouble keeping him calm and relaxed.  They took him off of one sedative and are upping another one.  But he is not being sedated as quickly as they need him to be.

The nurse on his case today is not quite as gracious as the previous ones have been.  That is making an already stressful situation a little more stressful. 

Please pray for wisdom and guidance for doctors and nurses.

Please pray for him to be stable and then to improve.  For answers and a plan as to why he is having so much trouble.

Please pray for daily chest xray to improve and for his pneumonia to improve. 

Thank you, friends.
   
 ^{------------------------------------}
  Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
   and his understanding no one can fathom.
 He gives strength to the weary
   and increases the power of the weak.
 Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
 but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint.

(Isaiah 40: 28-31)

Monday Update

Well, I've only been here an hour and Dad has managed to give us a lot of drama.

He was doing pretty well when I came in.  His oxygen levels were at 50% and they had changed the respirator to where he could try to breathe some on his own with the respirator backing him up when he couldn't breath.

He was very agitated and fighting to pull the tubes out, but good (relatively speaking) other than that.

However, his vital signs kind of freaked out and all the machines starting beeping and all of a sudden the room was swarmed with nurses, PA's, doctors, respiratory therapists, etc.  They spent a long time fighting to stabilize him, calm him down, etc.   His heart now has an irregular heart rate which they have not seen with him previously.

His oxygen level now is back up to 100% and the respirator is again doing all of the work.

It's frustrating and scary.  Please continue to pray for him.  We are so very, very thankful for your support and concern and prayers.

Sunday Morning/Midday Update

There was a slight improvement in Dad's chest xray today.  That is good, though we were hoping for more than just a "slight" improvement. But, we will gladly take what we can get that is positive!

He's off of the nitric (sp?), which is good.  When things got super bad a few days ago, they had to add that in addition to the 100% oxygen at the respirator.  So that is a positive thing.  He also looks less swollen today.

He didn't have a fever today.  And his bloodwork has improved. 

They've been able to reduce his oxygen to 40% on the respirator.  Reducing it is good.

He is starting to wake-up some and gets very agitated when he wakes up.  They have to maintain a high level of sedation for him as he tries to pull all of the tubes and such out.  It is kind of nice to see his spunk, though, as long as he doesn't pull out any cords.  They are all quite vital!

Pray for him to remain stable with current oxygen levels.  I have noticed a pattern that he will start to improve on oxygen levels (to about where he is now at 40%) and then have a drastic setback.  I am praying for him to continue to improve.  Please pray also for improvements in his chest xray, cultures, and bloodwork.

Thank you, friends!

2:30 Update

We were able to go into Dad's room.

They have him off of the space age bed (pronate bed) and back into a regular bed.  The move went well and he remained stable.  That is a huge praise.

His face and eyes are very swollen but that is to expected with the pronating bed.

We spoke to the respiratory therapist and he indicated that the bloodwork that they did once they moved dad back to the regular bed is "greatly improved" and we are starting to "move in the right direction."  They changed the mode of the ventilator and that seemed to help. 

Please pray that they would continue to see these minor improvements. 
Please pray that his oxygen requirement would continue to decrease. 

Please pray that his lungs would heal.  As well as the rest of his body.
Please pray that his daily chest xray would show improvements tomorrow.  That daily chest xray seems to be one of the main ways for them to chart his progress or lack thereof.
Please pray for him to remain stable.

We were very encouraged after talking to the respiratory therapist.  It is nice to hear anything positive and he seemed very happy in the improved bloodwork results. 


As always, thank you for your sweet prayers and kind support. 

Quick Post-Prayers Please

They are removing Dad off of the pronate bed as they are "not seeing the results they were hoping for."

This is a little alarming for a few reasons.  One, because the doctors told us he would be on it through the weekend.  Second, because we understood the bed to be one of the last 2 or so options they had for him. And, thirdly, because moving him in any way is risky.  Additionally, the doctor had told us they had seen a very little bit of improvement in his lungs when they did the daily chest xray.  That seemed like good news to us but I guess to the doctor it was not really.  He said the faster they moved him off of the special bed, the better chance they have at another therapy helping him to recover.

It was all so strange as we left for lunch thinking he was staying on the bed for a while and then come back from lunch to find them moving him.

They keep stressing that he "is very, very sick."

Please pray.

Space Age Bed

All is stable.

Can you believe this contraption?  It's so unique.  It is rotating constantly.  And you can't see his face.  You can see just a little bit of his feet and his ears.

It is supposed to help the lungs drain.  Praying it helps him improve.

Thankful they were able to transition him to this without any hiccups.

Midday Update on Dad

Last night, Dad had a very hard time with the xrays and tests they ran.  They had trouble stabilizing him.  It was very scary.  They used the term destat.

This morning, I got to the hospital around 8am.  The critical care doctor spoke to me (Mom had gone home to shower as she had spent the night here) and he really scared me.  He made it sound like it was not super likely that Dad would overcome this since they can't quit figure out why he is having the challenges he is.

Fortunately someone from Mom's church was here and heard what the doctor told me.  She helped me remember what all the doctor said.  He said, "He's very sick and could die.  It's not hopeless but there is a good chance he could die.  It's not totally non-reversible."  Although it was upsetting news, I did press the doctor for information and do appreciate his honesty.

Basically, the xray showed lots of inflammation, no blood clots (which is good but doesn't help them understand what is wrong), intestine is fine (a little inflamed), and gall bladder is a little inflamed.

The top front half of lungs look ok.  The back part of the lungs have collapsed.  They are saying his lungs are badly damaged.

They are currently changing him to some sort of rotating bed that will hopefully relieve some of the pressure on his lungs.  I guess it is pretty rare and I overheard the nurse saying she has only done it once and it was 2 or 3 years ago.  The bed came with its own team of technicians. 

If that doesn't help they are going to try a different ventalator or something like that.

It's a risky procedure.  Any time they move him in anyway, he seems to have major trouble.

I'll update more later. Thank you for prayers!