Wednesday update: Throughout the night, Colby had some oxygen desaturations. Nothing major. One time it dipped into the 70's but for the most part it would drop to 87/88. It was happening at strange times, just out of the blue. Not during a cough treatment or not when Colby was being turned, just out of nowhere. Weird. Penny, one of our favs, was our RT last night. She said Colby was junky and coarse in his lungs. He was having trouble holding his oxygen so they bumped it up a bit. Room air is 21% and Colby had been there for several days. We bumped up to 30, then to 25, 24 and now he's at 23. Slowly but surely getting back to room air. That added with the drop in oxygen means, you guessed it, no extubating today. In rounds today we also discussed that Colby has a little somethin-somethin infection starting. Chances are it's from having a plastic tube down his throat, happens all the times with people who are on vents. So we're restarting antibiotics. Of course I'm very disappointed we didn't extubate today. I know Colby wants that damn thing out. But he's telling us it's just not time. All that thinking, praying, crying, researching, number crunching and all around stressing out about when to extubate Colby! In the end, Colby had the answer, he isn't ready. I think it was for the best. It's crazy up in that PICU today. Docs going in and out of rooms, on the phones, saying things like "can you get that STAT?!" We don't mind taking a back seat to the emergencies. Been there, done that, and I'm thankful that "all" we're worrying about is getting this kid off the vent. His blood pressure is normal now, seemed to take care of itself. He needs to pee more though. I suppose there's not a patron saint of urine either, huh?
So the plan for Colby? More of the same. Cough treatments around the clock every 3 hours using the MetaNeb and cough assist. They also took another culture sample from his tube to figure out what is growing infection wise. Monitor his blood pressure and temperature, which are both perfectly fine right now. Give him 1000 kisses. He had OT and PT today so he should be nice and stretched out. Give him 1000 more kisses and tell him how much everybody loves him and is praying he feels better soon. Stay on continuous feeds. Slowly wean O2 down to room air. Regroup and reassess in tomorrow's rounds.
How am I holding up? Completely bonkers today. By 9:00 this morning I had showered, dressed, done hair and make-up, straightened up the room and my out of town bag, gave Colby PT, fixed his hair, went to the cafeteria for coffee and sent about 20 texts. My sister in law gave me Eat, Pray, Love to read and I've also been reading a section out of Sunday's sports section about the upcoming NFL season. Go Colts!! But we did have a pleasant surprise today - company! April, a childhood friend, stopped by to see us. She was working in Florence and was nice enough to drive over, bringing a Pillow Pet for Colby and snacks for me. THANK YOU April, I'm thinking those mini-Reese's cups will be supper.
I'm so tired of looking at feet! That's what you do when riding in an elevator, look down. And what I'm seeing are flip-flop, sandal-wearing people with nasty, poorly painted toenails, crooked bony toes and calloused ankles. Disgusting! Geez people, cover those things up and put them in shoes where they belong!
I just love old, fat, jolly priests. The priest here, Fr. Mike, is a very sweet man. He came up today and said a blessing/prayer with us. He was all decked out in his black clergy wear, white collar, and suspenders with balloons on them. Ha, loved it. Went to noon Mass. The whole service took 14 minutes. We've got no time to waste. Pray, reading, homily, communion, peace be with you and we're outta here. I spend quite a bit of time in that chapel down the hall. My faith is the glue that holds me together. Well, it's holding me together fairly decent at the moment anyways. More later. Have a great day everyone. More later.
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