End of Day Report
Hi everyone - here's your end of day report!
Kim's condition is excellent, with all her key measurements trending the right way. She was given a bit more blood today which really helped bring her blood pressure up and stabilize her oxygen levels. (I told her that must have been Portuguese blood to be so effective). This is normal, and a great sign that her body is healing!
She’s still on her ventilator and sedated, but about mid-day her sedation was changed from “on-demand” (i.e., when she seemed uncomfortable) to a steady drip. This produced two advantages: 1) She stayed more comfortable consistently and as a result was 2) able to communicate more often and for longer periods. However, as Katie warned, communication is super hard! Poor Kim has been frustrated despite Alayne’s awesome signs, but we’ve learned at this point her message is either “I’m thirsty!” or “I’m sore – move me around a bit!” Unfortunately due to the ventilator there is not much to be done about her thirst other than swab her mouth with a wet sponge, which I’m sure is incredibly frustrating. Tomorrow that should all change and she should be able to take a good drink of water. (I should note here that due to the sedative she’s taking, she’ll almost certainly remember none of this part of her experience).
So speaking of tomorrow, the plan is to start getting her breathing with less and less assistance. The ventilator regulates her breathing now by establishing a minimum of 20 breaths per minute, but we often see her per minute count at 21 or 22 which means she’s already taking a few breaths on her own! Tomorrow we’ll start dialing back the ventilator to give her a chance to exercise those new lungs even more. Unfortunately due to the incisions drawing a good breath can be quite painful, so to mitigate that Kim will be given an epidural just prior to having her ventilator removed. This will numb the portion of her torso that is so sore so that she can breathe properly. Her sedative will also start to get dialed back so that Kim can participate more actively in her recuperation. Tomorrow is going to be a BIG DAY!
Kim’s doctors and nurses are all just amazing and super positive. One of her surgeons came in today and told us that Kim’s heart was the biggest he’d ever seen and Cheryl quipped he must have meant that figuratively as well as literally. I’m sure we can all agree on that.
Good night friends, I’ll post more tomorrow. Please feel free to send me your questions or post them here, and I’ll try to get them answered.
She’s still on her ventilator and sedated, but about mid-day her sedation was changed from “on-demand” (i.e., when she seemed uncomfortable) to a steady drip. This produced two advantages: 1) She stayed more comfortable consistently and as a result was 2) able to communicate more often and for longer periods. However, as Katie warned, communication is super hard! Poor Kim has been frustrated despite Alayne’s awesome signs, but we’ve learned at this point her message is either “I’m thirsty!” or “I’m sore – move me around a bit!” Unfortunately due to the ventilator there is not much to be done about her thirst other than swab her mouth with a wet sponge, which I’m sure is incredibly frustrating. Tomorrow that should all change and she should be able to take a good drink of water. (I should note here that due to the sedative she’s taking, she’ll almost certainly remember none of this part of her experience).
So speaking of tomorrow, the plan is to start getting her breathing with less and less assistance. The ventilator regulates her breathing now by establishing a minimum of 20 breaths per minute, but we often see her per minute count at 21 or 22 which means she’s already taking a few breaths on her own! Tomorrow we’ll start dialing back the ventilator to give her a chance to exercise those new lungs even more. Unfortunately due to the incisions drawing a good breath can be quite painful, so to mitigate that Kim will be given an epidural just prior to having her ventilator removed. This will numb the portion of her torso that is so sore so that she can breathe properly. Her sedative will also start to get dialed back so that Kim can participate more actively in her recuperation. Tomorrow is going to be a BIG DAY!
Kim’s doctors and nurses are all just amazing and super positive. One of her surgeons came in today and told us that Kim’s heart was the biggest he’d ever seen and Cheryl quipped he must have meant that figuratively as well as literally. I’m sure we can all agree on that.
Good night friends, I’ll post more tomorrow. Please feel free to send me your questions or post them here, and I’ll try to get them answered.
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