I've gotten burned by saying that Andrew had a good day, because it often seems to be followed by a not-so-good one. However, I can't let that stop me from acknowledging the positives....so, Andrew had a pretty good day today.
He made it through a three hour sprint this morning, and his capillary gas (which is usually worse than one from an arterial line) actually came back better than the two previous arterial gases. He was taking turns being grumpy and cute, but just seeing him awake and alert makes me happy. He's been responding a bit better to desaturations recently....his oxygen levels can get down into the 80s, or even the 70s, but he's been better at getting them back up on his own, without requiring extra effort (or even extra oxygen) from the nurses. Of course, he still has moments where he drops into the 50s and 60s, and then he needs some assistance, but any improvement is a good one.
He's continuing to spit up small amounts, so they still haven't increased the volume of his feedings. They hope that having the ventilator tube removed will ease the pressure on his internal organs, relieve his gag reflex, and stop the emesis (fancy word for vomiting).
I just called for a check with the night nurse. He did really well on another three hour sprint and had a great gas. He didn't even seem to mind the heel prick that much. Tomorrow they'll move up to four hour sprints....then they're planning for extubation on Wednesday morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment