Eric and I are tired today. We left the trach plugged overnight for the first time last night. We monitored Eric's oxygen saturation and heart rate with a continuous pulse oximeter, on advice from Dr. Vickie the ENT doctor in Houston. She would have had us go to Houston for two nights observation in the hospital, so I guess we got off easy. But the crazy alarm alarmed all night! Mostly because his heart rate fluctuated more than I would have guessed, depending on if he was asleep or awake, still or stirring, quiet or coughing. Once I put the low and high heart rate alarms quite low and quite high, the monitor was much less noisy. Once, his nasal cannula (where he gets his oxygen) came out of his nose and was blowing on his cheek and his O2 saturation dropped slightly, yet enough to sound the alarm. I lowered that limit as well. Anyway, we'll do it all again tonight, but now that we know where we need to set the alarms, we should sleep better.
Speaking of Dr. Vickie, she called this AM and said that she and her attending aren't comfortable after all with Eric's trach coming out in Dr. Thompson's office without Eric first having a full-blown bronchoscopy. I understand the reasoning. They just want to make sure everything is okay. But Wednesday is Dr. Thompson's day off, so we couldn't schedule this test yet. I'm hoping it can be done either tomorrow (I'm too optimistic) or Friday (still quite optimistic) so Eric doesn't have to wait till early next week.
Yesterday, on Eric's evening walk, he impressed us all by doubling his distance, twice around Gabriel Sq., 1.68 miles, 49 minutes. He increased his pace as well. And he had another great day at PT/OT today.
This morning, Eric's weight was exactly 112.8 for the third straight day. GRRRR! And it seemed like he ate more yesterday. I was so hopeful. We don't mind if he gains slooooowly, but that number has to go up.
Post-PT Sonic snack . . . A supersonic cheeseburger and a watermelon cream slush.
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4 comments:
My prayers are with you that all is well and the trach is removed no later than Mon. Your family must have the patience of Job. I hope the scales show more weight gain tomorrow. Maybe a hot fudge sundae would help.
Love and prayers,
bev
I don't know about Eric, but a hot fudge sundae always makes me feel better. Praying that all goes well and the trach will be removed soon.
God's blessings always,
.... m
Keep on keeping on Eric, Angie and Family!
Praise God for your progress.
Pamt
Thank You Father for Eric's complete recovery. Lord, thank You that he is gaining weight, his appetite is increasing and every day he is getting stronger. Thank You that there is so much positive happening in Eric's body and life that the small things that have not lined up with Your word yet are really very small things. Thank You for his positive attitude and determination!
Lord bless the Dilmore family in every way. In Jesus Name.
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