Taking Care

Everyone says to Bob and I, "Take care of yourselves." And we know this is important. At the same time, it's incredibly difficult. Sleep is a huge issue. Eating is random and rarely healthy. And exercise is non-existent. At Lake Charles Memorial, my primary source of exercise was taking the stairs between the third, second, and first floors. Here at TCH, the stairwells are limited to employees with coded badges. We can try to get outside for short walks, but as long as Eric's in ICU, we don't like to be too far away. I'll do the best I can, but what's most important right now is Eric. I can whip myself back into shape later.

As in Lake Charles, the staff here are impressed with what a great patient Eric is. I'm quite impressed myself. How can a fourteen year old boy, who's been on a ventilator four of the past five weeks, be so calm, relaxed, cooperative, pleasant, peaceful? He has occasional periods of increased anxiety, when he asks for some sedation. But he's trusting, seemingly without fear, amazingly accepting. It's almost baffling to me. Surely, he has the presence of the Spirit within.

Eric tolerated weaning well again today. They decreased the amount of suction on the chest tubes by half, hopefully a happy medium that will keep the lungs expanded, keep the pneumothoraxes at bay, and possibly allow the leaks to close. Because of the the length of time these leaking holes have been patent, no one is optimistic at this point that they'll close on their own. Current vent settings: PSV 13, PEEP 5, FiO2 .50. The critical care docs are talking about extubating maybe tomorrow, or the weekend. But the looming question is what do the surgeons have planned? We haven't talked to them yet today.