Thursday, February 26, 2015

Update # 171

8 Years

OFF THE VENTILATOR!!! After 12 days, 16 hours, Jeff was extubated at 1:44 PM today.

I will back up to last evening when we were waiting for the PICC line. The gals showed up at 10:10 PM. It took about an hour to insert the line into Jeff’s upper left arm. I told them he was left-handed but I guess that’s the vein they found. And new technology, this machine showed immediately the line was inserted properly.

Jeff had a restless night. Maybe he was worn out from the PICC line procedure or maybe the fever was bothering him, but the nurses were wonderful moving him to different positions to find the sweet spot to sleep. Finally a bit after 3:00 AM, they gave Jeff a small dose of something to let him sleep. It worked great for several hours.

A little before 9:00 this morning, one of the docs pulled the IV line in Jeff’s neck. This was the plan once the PICC line was in place. Maybe the neck IV was the source of the fever? We’ve noticed Jeff’s temp falling all day since that IV was removed. Looks to be normal.

Two pulmonary doctors came in a little after 9:00 AM and said Jeff’s numbers look good even with the slight fever. They said there’d be a trial in an hour. Well, 2 hours after that time (miscommunication to several folks), the 30 minute trial began. One of the pulmonary docs returned after 45 minutes and said give Jeff another 15 minutes and yes, he could be extubated. Well, an hour later, Jeff was off the vent!

Jeff followed all instructions and felt exhausted after the tube was pulled. He is not to talk but continue to use his hand/head signals. Thirty minutes later, all sedations were stopped. It will take a few days for these to leave Jeff’s body.

Another hour later, an NG tube was inserted through Jeff’s nose to his stomach. He is not yet ready to do a swallow test and of course nothing by mouth so this is necessary to give some meds and nutrition to Jeff.

And the docs have found no reason for Jeff to need 2 units of blood last night. Today’s blood counts have been fine.

Doctors and nurses are pleased and say Jeff is doing very well. He is still considered “critical” for 24+ hours after the extubation. They’ll let us know when we can use a different word to describe Jeff’s situation. He is totally exhausted after his hard work day of getting one tube out and one tube in.

Cards and packages have arrived giving gifts, love, and support. Meridith and I enjoyed looking at it all and Jeff will too. You are such terrific friends to do this. Your prayers help us through these times of slow going. And it will be slow going for several weeks but Jeff will work his best to return to his normal. Thanks for continuing to help him.

love,

Marcia