Let the weaning begin...

4:30am - Temp 99.0.

8:00am - Temp 101.6.

About 8:15 this morning, Karen (her respiratory therapist) put her on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) of 15. This is a weaning as she had been on "full" support for a while.

At 8:45, Ashley (her nurse) turned of mom's IV drip of Propofol. We don't know how long it will take for this heavy sedation to wear off, but have noticed that she is moving a bit more. Her arms and legs hardly stay still as a matter of fact.

A few times it looked like she might be trying to open her eyes, but that might just be wishful thinking. Being sedated and on the ventilator for this period of time has had affected her eyes - to me - quite a bit. Her left eye has badly broken blood vessels (we'll told that they will heal over time) and her right eye looks swollen and perhaps infected. A new antibiotic called Gentamicin was adminstered a few hours ago to treat that.

9:05am - Ashley stopped Amikacin, an antibiotic which they started administering on Tuesday, February 8th. It's a pretty serious drug and they take blood labs every so often to check levels. Mom's levels were high this morning, so the pharmacists will work with the Infectious Disease doctors to come up with a new dosage. From what I've found, this is a short-term drug and would not be administered for more than 7-10 days, and she's at the 7 day mark today.

9:45am - Karen reduced CPAP to 12. Mom is doing well respiratory wise.

At about 10:15am, a Physical Therapist came in to work with mom. He sat her up in her bed and tried to get her to open her eyes. He did some excercises with her arms, stretching them out and then reaching up to her nose, ears and head. That lasted about 10-15 minutes and he said he would come back tomorrow. I can't wait to see her be more responsive, or at least, a little bit alert. Her vitals all stayed good through the session.

10:35am Temp - 100.7.

So, it's noon now and she seems to be doing okay. She's wiggley, but her face doesn't seem to be showing an "in pain" grimmace. We're keeping a close eye though.

Lab results for the fluid taken from the side of her lung yesterday will be back in waves, some possibly today or tomorrow and some, not until closer to the end of the week. I'll let you know when we hear anything.

Take care & xox,
Tommy