Greg Covid - Day 18 - Not Many Changes

I spoke with Greg's nurse early this morning. He had a pretty good night and seemed to be comfortable most of the night.  She said that because of the trach, they lose some of the lung build up that they made progress with so he is still 100% on the vent and they left him there overnight.  He is still on CPAP mode, so he’s initiating the breathes.   They did lighten up his sedation a little at the beginning, but seemed to do some “belly breathing” on the vent, so they changed the sedation back.   

It is fairly normal to lose some of the lung build up when given a trach and the patient just needs to build that back up afterwards.  The goal is to try to start weaning down his oxygen as he will tolerate and go down on sedation as he tolerates.  She said "I think he’s tolerating it really well for the first night.  The body has to adjust."  

 

I spoke with his day nurse this afternoon.  She said Greg is doing really well with the trach.  They are trying to wean down his sedation and he is starting to open his eyes, but he is not following commands yet.  They are trying to find nice balance.  He has been on and off blood pressure meds to keep his blood pressure up.  

 

They would like to keep the sedation very light as it needs to fully work out of his system, at which point he should wake up and start following commands.  They are being cautious because his blood pressure goes up every time they lower it.  They need to do it slowly enough that he doesn’t get super agitated as it can be shock to his system.  

 

His blood pressure could be going up because he’s in pain so we talked Greg’s "at home" pain meds for his back and Lyrica for his nerve pain.  She is going to talk to the doctor about restarting those meds.  

 

I also spoke to Greg's doctor this afternoon.  He said there hasn’t been any significant change in his condition  They are trying to bring down sedation.  He is on a lot pain meds right now, and they will restart his Lyrica tonight.  They want to restart his IVIG infusions, but do not have the meds on hand, so the pharmacy was going to order it.  I told him that we have to get it from the specialty pharmacy through Optum and I didn't know if it would be covered any other way (it's very, very expensive).  He then spoke to the pharmacist again and canceled the order.  I am going to bring the medication and all the supplies tomorrow after work.  I have to had it directly to the nurse and sign some sort of form indicating that this is "home medication" and the nurse will send it to the pharmacy (I'm assuming to make sure it's not something that was tampered with) and then the pharmacy will send it back to the nurse and that way we are not charged for it.  I asked the doctor if they have spoken with Greg's Immunologist (immunologists are doctors who diagnose, treat, and work to prevent immune system disorders) about restarting the IVIG infusions, and he said no, that they only spoke to the pharmacist.  Seeing as they did not want to restart the IVIG last week because they were suppressing his immune system (standard), they didn't want to give him anything to boost it.  He agreed to speak with the immunologist tomorrow.  I will feel better knowing that this has been discussed with the immunologist.   

 

The doctor assured me that the issues that Greg is having are normal.  

This picture of Greg was taken in July, 2019.  For Father's Day that year, I gave him a gift certificate to a hotel in Minocqua for us to spend a few days away!  This picture was taken at Wildwood Wildlife Park and Zoo.  I think Greg was contemplating dinner!  Ha!! 

As always, please continue your prayers for Greg.  Pray that they are able to lower the sedation and he's able to start waking up.   

Love, Peace and Prayers, 

Julie