Day Thirteen -- 2nd Shift Takes Over

As Amy and Aunt Judi left yesterday, Mom (Cheryl) and I (Jen) arrived last night. It's difficult for us to be able to compare how he "was" to how he "is," but we are doing our best to talk to doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists to help us understand.

Everyone we talk to agrees that yesterday (saturday) was a setback from his progress on Friday, but they assure us that is to be expected. "Two steps forward, one step back!" This morning he was still struggling with coughing -- you can tell he is in pain when it happens as his entire body tenses. The coughing spells decreased somewhat as the day went on; they are giving a medicine to numb the area around the ventilation tube. Although he does have pneumonia and a severly bruised right lung, the doctor believes the main cause of the coughing is that the ventilator tube is aggravating his throat. In addition to the medicine, they are going to try some different tubing and maybe some alterations to his neck brace. They are hopeful that he will get the neckbrace off soon -- they know that nothing is his neck is broken (praise the Lord!), but they believe there might be some strained ligaments. They need to reassess the damage before they can safely remove the neck brace. Each new day is a promise of a new "victory" -- one step at a time.....

As far as communication, he has been sleeping alot since we arrived Saturday night. This morning, he did squeeze our hands. I told him that Amy was home with the kids and that they loved him, and he mouthed "Tell them I love them." The rest of the day, there was little communication -- we would stand with him and hold his hand during coughing attacks, but otherwise, he was sleeping deeply. However, when we arrived at 8pm tonight, he opened BOTH of his eyes and looked at us. Unfortunately, neither one of us look too great, so he closed his eyes and decided to ignore us:) (We promise to try and look nicer tomorrow!)

The nurse told us that she had just assessed him and he had squeezed her hands, pressed her hands down with his feet, and responded to every other command she gave him. She is very pleased with how well he is breathing tonight -- they have again turned down the vent and he is breathing "on his own." He is doing most of the work -- the vent stays in to ensure that his breathing stays regular, that he doesnt choke, etc. The next step (although we dont know when!) is to remove the tubing, leaving the vent in with oxygen over it. The nurse seemed hopeful that would be happening in the next few days. We will keep you posted!