Cathy did not have a good night. She did not get much sleep, her headaches were very bad, and during the night they attempted to remove the vent-assist again. I do not know how well she did, but I got the impression from the respiratory therapist and nurse that it did not go well. Shortly after I arrived at 6:30 this morning, they removed the assist again. This time the respiratory therapist remained at Cathy's side. Cathy was given several breathing treatments during this trial, her lungs were suctioned, and her sedation was increased to relax her a bit. Her blood oxygen saturation fell and rose with the treatments, her CO2 concentrations spiked and fell, her blood pressure rose to 200 over 90. After 70 minutes the ventilator was returned to providing full assist. I don't know what happened, but this did not appear to help. Cathy continued to struggle..... After several agonizing minutes Cathy's 'numbers' started to settle down. The thought that this might be a reflection of what happened during the night makes my stomach knot-up.
During the 70 minutes Cathy was breathing without ventilator assistance, the respiratory therapist performed several tests. She informed us that Cathy's throat is too swollen to attempt to remove the vent-tube. If this tube were removed, Cathy's throat would close off and she would not be able to breath anyway. No extibation today.
A different attending physician took over responsibility for the ICU this morning (normal shift rotation for the doctors). This doctor appears to run the ICU rounds at a slightly different schedule from the previous attending. She stopped by and said she would be by Cathy's room sometime after 11 this morning. Until then I will not know what the actual plan will be for today and tomorrow, how they are going to address the swollen throat, or where we stand on the battle with the virus.
Cathy's sedation was increased some more, she is now sleeping.
David
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