Greg Covid - Day 8

Today makes one week since Greg was taken by ambulance to the hospital and I was told he had Covid and was being sent to the ICU.  He actually had a pretty good night.  The "proned" him, which simply means they flipped him on his stomach, because he did so well that way the other night.  He did very well again last night.  His lungs sound clear and his Profusion Ventilation Ratio went from 78 to 166, which means the amount of oxygen his lungs are providing to his body is significant.  His nurse, Kegan, said that this was significant!   

He is spiking a fever and went up to 102.4 and they are not sure what is causing the fever, as all the tests are coming back negative.  It could just be his body's response to fighting the Covid.  He is being kept on high dose antibiotics, just in case there is something they're not finding.  His vent was at 60%, but he thought that with the increase of oxygen in his blood, they may turn that down.  

He is initiating and helping with own breathing.  With the paralytic being off, he is doing a lot of the work on his own.  The vent is assisting, but he’s able to initiate some of his own breaths.  He has a long way to go, but everything looks better than yesterday!   He does wake up a bit and notices that the nurses and staff are in there when they're flipping him, and then falls back into a contented sleep pattern when they're done. 

I spoke with his night nurse for a little bit at 7:30 today, but she really didn't have much information.  Because shift change is at 7, she was still reviewing all his information and getting situated to take care of him overnight.  She did say his vent was at 65%, so a little higher than this morning, but still not bad.  He was on his back, but they were going to prone him again, as he did so much better that way. She said that his oxygenation after being on his back during the day dropped from 78% to 56%, so that's why they decided to prone him again for the night.  He's not getting worse, so that's good.  Baby steps.  We need to remember that these are baby steps.  

I'm doing OK, I guess.  Work is crazy busy and I am being pulled in a million different directions, so it's hard to get as much done as I usually do.  Other than that, nothing really happening here.   

Here's a selfie Greg took when we were on a sailboat heading to the Low Isles portion of the Great Barrier Reef outside of Port Douglas to go snorkeling!  

Please continue to pray for Greg and for his lungs.  That they continue to improve and he is able to breathe more and more on his own.  Pray that his fever goes down and his vital organs remain in good shape and they are able to remove him from the vent in the next couple days.   

Love, Peace and Prayers, 

Julie