THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY JULIE FOR FACEBOOK LAST NIGHT (SEPT. 6) I (HER DAD) AM POSTING IT HERE ON SATURDAY.
Sorry
for not updating last night....I had the update just about written
and the money on my broadband ran out. It was 11:30 p.m. and no place
to purchase more time on my broadband. (There is no internet in the
hospital, but I have my laptop with me and my USB broadband.) But, we
are back in business now. So, here is last night's update:
Today was a calm day...praise the Lord! I hadn't written an update because there wasn't much to update and, after all we lived through yesterday (Thursday), my brain wasn't much good for anything beyond the very basics today. I struggle with saying that Danny is doing "well" because that may imply that he is awake, talking, eating, sitting up, etc. We are a long away from any of that! The best description for his condition right now really is: "Danny is alive!" We saw him twice today. At the beginning of each visit the doctors ask me: "How are you?" My answer today was: "Thrilled to be at a visit with my son still alive!"
Praise Jesus that Danny is doing better now than this afternoon, and this afternoon he was doing better than this morning and this morning he was doing better than last night! However, to understand our new perspective of "better" please imagine a marathon race and then imagine moving one inch forward. That is "better" for us at this point in time! So, in that sense of the word "better", Danny is doing "better"...in other words, he moved forward an inch or so in his recovery. Please just remember that his simply being alive today is a miracle and a blessing...we really aren't too worried about making progress at this point. Our doctor told us from the get go, that as long as a patient in intensive care isn't going backwards he is moving forwards!
In summary:
*they are gradually reducing some of his medications...reducing means lowering the med by two tenths of a milliliter per hour, waiting to make sure that Danny reacts favorably, then lowering another med two tenths of a milliliter, waiting, etc. He currently has 11 IV pumps.
*he is TOTALLY sedated: I tell him stories, tell him what day of the week and what time it is, what his siblings are doing at home, sing to him and pray for him assuming he can hear me, but I have no indicator if he can or not. His eyes are taped shut so that they don't partially open on their own and bother him. He doesen't move his head, squeeze fingers or move at all. They plan on keeping him totally sedated until Sun. or Mon. because....
*as I previously mentioned they took his trach out. So, the hole in his neck is now covered by a special substance (I call it caulking, for lack of the right medical term in my vocabulary) and covered by gauze and tape. He is intubated with the ventilator going in through his mouth like he was after surgery. They keep him totally sedated because if he starts to move and air leaks out of his trach site, that will cause his heart to work harder, which they believe was partially what caused his heart attacks...leakage from around his trach. (He was leaking from around the trach because, due his malnutrition, his skin did not close in tight around the trach, allowing some of the air that was going in to escape back out again.) So, it is important he is totally still for now. However a HUGE praise is that his oxygen saturation when I went in to see him this evening was 99%! That is amazing! A normal human being should have an oxygen saturation of 99-100%. Danny has a normal saturation....I think that's the first time Danny has ever been normal! Before surgery, Danny lived with a daily oxygen saturation rate of 70-75%! After surgery, he was saturating at 85-90%, but we had never seen such good levels as today! Let's keep those numbers right there!
*more good news: they started him back on his IV nutrition, called TPN...he had been on a fast since his heart attacks and they hadn't expected to start him on the nutrition until Monday because there was a certain substance in his blood that skyrockets after a heart attack...it should be at a level 1, and yesterday it was at a level 10, but today the levels were back to normal, so they started him on the TPN. This is good because it will get some calories in him.
*his blood pressure and heart rate have been good, but are being controlled by medication, although he is no longer connected to the pacemaker! He hasn't had any arrhythmia today, although in my first visit today I watched his blood pressure plummet and they shot some extra medicine into him to bring it back up
*he continues to drain fluid from his right lung, this is due to the chylotorax condition he developed after surgery, but the fluid isn't accumulating and is draining well
*they moved the crash cart out of his room (There are 6 beds in Cardiac ICU in one big open area. However, there are two isolated beds that are set apart by glass walls. Danny is in one of those...so now the crash cart is out in the general area instead of right next to his bed.)
OK, I think that's everything! Was it enough to read? By now you probably had to refill your coffee cup! Love you all!
Today was a calm day...praise the Lord! I hadn't written an update because there wasn't much to update and, after all we lived through yesterday (Thursday), my brain wasn't much good for anything beyond the very basics today. I struggle with saying that Danny is doing "well" because that may imply that he is awake, talking, eating, sitting up, etc. We are a long away from any of that! The best description for his condition right now really is: "Danny is alive!" We saw him twice today. At the beginning of each visit the doctors ask me: "How are you?" My answer today was: "Thrilled to be at a visit with my son still alive!"
Praise Jesus that Danny is doing better now than this afternoon, and this afternoon he was doing better than this morning and this morning he was doing better than last night! However, to understand our new perspective of "better" please imagine a marathon race and then imagine moving one inch forward. That is "better" for us at this point in time! So, in that sense of the word "better", Danny is doing "better"...in other words, he moved forward an inch or so in his recovery. Please just remember that his simply being alive today is a miracle and a blessing...we really aren't too worried about making progress at this point. Our doctor told us from the get go, that as long as a patient in intensive care isn't going backwards he is moving forwards!
In summary:
*they are gradually reducing some of his medications...reducing means lowering the med by two tenths of a milliliter per hour, waiting to make sure that Danny reacts favorably, then lowering another med two tenths of a milliliter, waiting, etc. He currently has 11 IV pumps.
*he is TOTALLY sedated: I tell him stories, tell him what day of the week and what time it is, what his siblings are doing at home, sing to him and pray for him assuming he can hear me, but I have no indicator if he can or not. His eyes are taped shut so that they don't partially open on their own and bother him. He doesen't move his head, squeeze fingers or move at all. They plan on keeping him totally sedated until Sun. or Mon. because....
*as I previously mentioned they took his trach out. So, the hole in his neck is now covered by a special substance (I call it caulking, for lack of the right medical term in my vocabulary) and covered by gauze and tape. He is intubated with the ventilator going in through his mouth like he was after surgery. They keep him totally sedated because if he starts to move and air leaks out of his trach site, that will cause his heart to work harder, which they believe was partially what caused his heart attacks...leakage from around his trach. (He was leaking from around the trach because, due his malnutrition, his skin did not close in tight around the trach, allowing some of the air that was going in to escape back out again.) So, it is important he is totally still for now. However a HUGE praise is that his oxygen saturation when I went in to see him this evening was 99%! That is amazing! A normal human being should have an oxygen saturation of 99-100%. Danny has a normal saturation....I think that's the first time Danny has ever been normal! Before surgery, Danny lived with a daily oxygen saturation rate of 70-75%! After surgery, he was saturating at 85-90%, but we had never seen such good levels as today! Let's keep those numbers right there!
*more good news: they started him back on his IV nutrition, called TPN...he had been on a fast since his heart attacks and they hadn't expected to start him on the nutrition until Monday because there was a certain substance in his blood that skyrockets after a heart attack...it should be at a level 1, and yesterday it was at a level 10, but today the levels were back to normal, so they started him on the TPN. This is good because it will get some calories in him.
*his blood pressure and heart rate have been good, but are being controlled by medication, although he is no longer connected to the pacemaker! He hasn't had any arrhythmia today, although in my first visit today I watched his blood pressure plummet and they shot some extra medicine into him to bring it back up
*he continues to drain fluid from his right lung, this is due to the chylotorax condition he developed after surgery, but the fluid isn't accumulating and is draining well
*they moved the crash cart out of his room (There are 6 beds in Cardiac ICU in one big open area. However, there are two isolated beds that are set apart by glass walls. Danny is in one of those...so now the crash cart is out in the general area instead of right next to his bed.)
OK, I think that's everything! Was it enough to read? By now you probably had to refill your coffee cup! Love you all!
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