Andrew had a great night/morning, a rough afternoon, and then a nice early evening. He's been laying on his stomach for the last few days, and they were concerned that his stomach tube was pressing on his abdomen and causing soreness. They flipped him onto his back this morning....he responded very well and was behaving well for the nurses. In the early afternoon, he started working harder to breathe, his oxygen saturation dropped, and his CO2 sensor started to spike. A blood test confirmed that his CO2 was very high, though he wasn't showing any outward signs of being upset. They turned up the pressure and rate on his ventilator and gave him an extra breathing treatment and he recovered, but it's a bit concerning that he had such a reaction for no known reason. A chest x-ray showed no major anatomical changes, so it wasn't a hyperinflation problem with his left lung....it could be an issue with his right bronchus, or simply airway spasms.
After that, he behaved very well. He was awake and happy when we got there, his follow-up gases were all normal, and he's been good ever since. His ventilator settings are back to where they were this morning, his oxygen is back at 30%, and he hasn't given a repeat performance. We had another nice visit with him, then left him sleeping peacefully. I'll post some pictures when I have a chance.
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