Greg Covid - Day 10 Steady as She Goes

 I spoke with Greg's nurse, Maureen, at around 5:15 this morning.  Greg had a good night.  She was able to get him off the blood pressure meds and he was off them all night.  They are gradually weaning him off sedation.  He is breathing good and at good rate.  He started moving/exploring, but not anything purposeful.  He is not following commands, but did open his eyes and look around.  Because he's moving around a bit, she put restraints on him just so he doesn’t accidentally grab an IV or remove a tube or something.  His temperature is down to 100, which is great!   He’s still at 50% on the vent and his oxygenation is at 92%.   He is still on some mild anesthesia meds, but less than he was on in the past.  Getting his temperature down helped him to breathe easier.  She gave him a bath and washed his hair.   

She said that they're giving him a lot of pressure (peep) normal is 5, he’s between 12 and 15 now.  They are giving him extra pressure to help ease his work of breathing.  She said that typically we look at extra peep between 5-8 to take people off the vent. 

I spoke to Greg's doctor around 1 p.m. today.  She said they are trying to wean him off anesthesia.   He’s on a support vent now, which means he is doing most of the breathing and the vent is merely “supporting” him. If he doesn’t take a breath in say 20 seconds, then the vent will breathe for him.  He is improving and seems to be doing good.  They are monitoring his breathing and maybe go down more on his medications.   Most of the time he’s doing his own breathing right now and he is breathing more than the machine.   They want to monitor it slowly as everything changes day to day.  They need to slowly wean him off so they don’t have to put him back on vent, as that can be dangerous.  

They are still treating for infection, as his sputum culture was positive for staph (but she said "not the bad kind").   He also had MRSA positive a few days back, but he has always tested positive for that before any surgeries or procedures.  Because of that, they have him on broad spectrum antibiotics. 

I spoke with his nurse again at about 6:15 tonight.  There were not a whole lot of changes today.  He is still on the support vent and is not on any blood pressure meds.  He is still requiring the same 50% oxygen level.  He responds to commands, but is still decently sedated.  If he has to work too hard to breathe, then his respiratory rate goes up and they have to turn the sedation up.   The goal to remove from the vent is for the vent to be at 35-40% and breathing at a controlled rate, awake and following commands.   Generally, they aim for 35-40% to get off vent and it requires breathing at a controlled rate, awake and following commands, etc. 

So, that is today's update.  He's doing a little better, which is what we need.  Remember, it's all baby steps.  Today was a baby step day and that's OK.   

Please, as always, continue your prayers for Greg.  Baby steps every day, or giant steps.  I'm OK with either one!  Pray that they are able to get rid of whatever infection he has and that they are able to wean him off the anesthesia so that he can breathe more on his own and won't need the assistance of the vent.  We are still in the midst of this battle, but we are winning!   

Today's picture of Greg is at the Australia Zoo (the Steve Irwin family's zoo), sitting and visiting with a kangaroo!  It was a very warm day, and it was good to sit in the shade for a bit!