Sleepless

Have you ever tried to sleep in an ICU? It's quite a noisy place! IVs beeping, alarms bleeping, vital signs monitor dinging, ventilator rhythmically swooshing, drug aerosol nebulizer misting, chest tube suctions gurgling, ICU doors banging open and shut, nurses and therapists flipping on lights to tend to their patient. Even when Eric has a good night, it's tough to get a good night's sleep. Cool about this hospital is that they give the parents of pediatric ICU patients a "hospitality room" which has a private shower, toilet, sink and bed. A comfortable bed, unlike the lumpy pullout bed in Eric's room. Bob and I trade off, alternating sleeping in the two rooms, so that on any given day, hopefully at least one of us has had a good night's sleep. One of us might go home once in a while, I think we've each been home twice in the past two weeks, but it's too stressful to be away from the hospital. We want to be near Eric, watching over, guarding, praying.

Eric had a good night last night and a good day today. Good meaning relatively uneventful. He spiked a temp today, so he likely has an infection somewhere. They sent blood cultures. And he has pseudomonas growing in his sputum, which is a common bug in ICUs. Hopefully neither of these things will be a major problem. We were able to make a little change on the ventilator in the right direction today. Baby steps. But hopefully we'll get there.