Andrew had an interesting night, shortly after I made my last post. They had flipped him at midnight, putting him on his stomach for a while in order to relieve some pressure on his lungs, ease the fluid gathering on the back of his head, and give him a bit of a break from the standard on-his-back position. Apparently something about the move didn't agree with him....either the stress of moving him or something about the new position. His 5am blood gases came back with a high CO2 content, and they compensated by turning his ventilator way up (to 45, from 30). That stabilized him pretty quickly and his following gases were fine, but it was definitely a setback.
Once they turned the vent up so high, they spent the rest of the day coming back down. All his gases looked good all day, and they currently have him back down to 36. In addition, his inhaled oxygen percentage has been brought down to 30% (from 36%), which is the lowest it's ever been. They're going to leave him on his tummy for at least tonight, and then reevaluate in the morning. It seems like a lot of the problem arises from when he gets too alert, because he starts to breathe normally and work against the ventilator. As soon as they move him to the standard ventilator, he'll be able to work WITH it, but for now it's best that they keep him relatively sedated. With his lungs in such a fragile state, he doesn't have any oxygen reserves, so any stress causes his numbers to drop pretty quickly.
After talking to his nurse on the phone this morning, I was pretty discouraged. But after going in, talking to the doctor, the respiratory therapist, and the nurse....and after seeing what was happening with his numbers for myself....I feel much more comfortable that today was just a minor step back. I need to stop paying so much attention to the numbers (though I just spent the entire post giving you stats), and focus on overall progress. Even considering the up-and-down nature of the last 24 hours, I'm convinced that he is healthier right now than he was before they flipped him a day ago. Every day further from the surgery is a day closer to a full recovery.
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