November 24, 2010: Today has been a good day in several respects. First, Brandon's anesthesia Propofol, has remained at 10 mcg/kg/min since 1:00 this afternoon. The balance of pain meds and decreased Propofol seems to be working. He reached and stretched for awhile when the ET tube was re-secured. We held his hands, talked with him, and allowed him to rest his head on my arm until he calmed down WITHOUT the addition of more meds. A great step in the right direction.
Second, the antibiotic also appears to be working. His fever continues to slowly decrease, the suctioning of his lungs far more productive, and the oxygen level on the respirator decreased by almost one-third.
Third, on his morning rounds sedation vacation the isolated the pain at three locations. When the doctor stimulated by his eyebrow, Brandon squinted and rather than move his hand toward his eyebrow, his hand found the doctors arm and grabbed his hand. If that is not a purposeful movement it is one great coincidence.
Forth, despite listening to old country music all day today, he still seemed to have some small improvements; lower Propofol, lower pulse, lower blood pressure, and lower temperature than this morning.
We continue to receive great care from all the staff. The minor actions we have struggled with are at an amazingly low level for a facility with the volume and autonomy they possess. We remain more and more hopeful each day. While it is hard to wait, the wait is worth it.
Tom, We are checking this site several times a day, sometimes several times an hour. We hope and pray that the good news, no matter how small the improvements may appear, will continue. Miracles happen. Even if our understanding of science cannot prove it.
ReplyDeleteMerlin has been great to work with, everybody knows we owe it to you to try to cover the bases that you have mastered here.
We'll keep things in check down here.