Another Attempt

This morning when I arrived at Cathy's ICU room she was awake and in good spirits. The overnight nurse said she slept well though the night. The only incident to note was a very brief depression of her heart rate (below 60 beats per min). The doctors do not appear to be concerned with these events.

When the doctors came by for their rounds, they all gave very "positive vibes" (but I guess that's what they are supposed to do.....). Her blood gasses are good. They now know what specific virus and fungi they are dealing with. They still have not nailed down the specific bacteria (and they may never). They are going to stop her IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin.... I am sure that is spelled wrong). These are the antibodies that they have been giving her to fight the virus infection (since her body makes so little immunogobulin ... read antibodies... on its own due to her immunosuppression to prevent rejection on her transplanted lungs). I got the impression that giving her this IVIG for more than four days may start to damage her kidneys, liver or muffler bearing. Something like that.

Towards the end of their discussions the attending physician (head honcho of Cathy's care) decided to make another attempt at backing down on the ventilator's support. The ventilator was providing Cathy with 18 cmH2O (centimeters of water pressure... just a way to measure pressure, like PSI in a car tire). The doctor had the respiratory therapist reduce the pressure assist to 8 cmH2O. Again, within 10 minutes Cathy was struggling. This time it was her blood pressure that was the limiting factor. Her blood pressure shot up to over 180/110.

The ventilator was reset and Cathy recovered..... physically. Cathy has become well aware of the situation. I watched as her eyes filled with emotion as she realized her body was not ready to support itself........

One of the resident physicians responsible for Cathy's care took a few moments with me after finishing her rounds. She explained that with Cathy's viral pneumonia there are still lots of fluids in all parts of her lungs. They will continue to work to remove these fluids through medications and evacuations through her breathing tube.

I caught the respiratory therapist before he left the room (I saw the Attending consult with him so I figured he knew his stuff.....). He said this was not unusual. They will keep trying and eventually she will be able to support her own breathing. He explained that when they reduce the pressure and make Cathy drawn in the air on her own, she must do this through the breathing tube...."It's like breathing through a straw".

A little while later, I took a moment to go down to the cafeteria and grab a cup of coffee. While there I ran into the attending physician. He was reassuring. He said they will try it daily until she is able to hold her own.

That's about it for this morning. Jessica came in a little bit ago and is providing some needed comfort to her mother. Becky will be back down this evening and Kaitlyn will be down tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for your prayers.

David