Perseverance

Last night Cathy persevered and held on for one hour off the ventilator, being supplied with only the moist air and oxygen mixture. After being put back on the ventilator, she appeared to recover from the experience.

Bonnie stayed with Cathy through the night and this morning she reported that Cathy had a rough night. Cathy did not get much sleep. During the night problems developed with the ventilator and it had to be changed out. Additionally Cathy's blood pressure dropped to a level where the nurse would not give her any more sedation or medication for her headaches, out of fear of causing her blood pressure to drop even lower. This morning Cathy's blood pressure was high enough for her to receive some headache medication.

This morning Cathy is also receiving two more units of blood. The doctors say that Cathy is not producing enough red cells for herself due to the antibiotics and steroids she is receiving. However, at least one doctor has expressed other concerns (to Bonnie) regarding the need to give Cathy so much blood (six unit now). Additionally the results from the blood gas analysis taken at the end of last night's 'exercise' were not good.

David