With so much craziness going on outside of these windows today it has been very calm in Blake's room. We are very thankful that the lock down has been lifted and I look forward to having Tom back at the hospital with us tomorrow morning.
They removed Blake's paralytic around lunchtime and he was able to quickly metabolize it and start moving. They were mainly jerking motions but tonight he did open his eyes to the sound of Aidan and Riley's voices over videos. I have been sitting in his room staring at his LA (left atrial) pressure for the last several hours. As the doctors removed the paralytic they warned that they expected that his LA pressure would probably go up and they would need to put them back on. But Blake has beat the odds again and his LA pressure has stayed right in the normal range. However, his temperature remains to be an issue as he is having trouble staying cool enough. Now that he is not paralyzed and less sedated he can't be on the cooling blanket as it would be very uncomfortable and could cause him to shiver which would only increase his temperature. That means if they can't keep his temperature down they may have to put him back on the paralytic so he can go back on the cooling blanket to ensure they can keep him cool enough so his heart doesn't need to work as hard. This is a very delicate process right now and is a little bit of a game to get him off the paralytic and continue to reduce the sedation.
The absolute best thing that I did see today was him take some breaths on his own. After they lifted the paralytic they turned down the ventilator slightly and he was taking some shallow breaths on his own.
His nurse tonight is amazing and has spent the last 1 1/2 hours with his room dimly lit cleaning him up, getting him new cool wash cloths, straightening and organizing every tube and ensuring he has a calm and organized environment. I think it might be the perfect thing to ensure that Blake has another quiet night and keeps his temperature down.
No comments:
Post a Comment