We are starting week #3 here. She is still on the vent. I am missing her terribly. Even though she is right here, I miss my playful, cuddly, sweet little girl.
The doctors did rounds this morning, and the focus shifted away from the trach to optimizing the next (and probably final) extubation attempt in a few days. Because she has required so much sedation and so many different meds for sedation, the challenge is to narrow down the eight different types of meds to three kinds (Ativan, methadone, and Precedex) in addition to weaning her down from those so when they try extubating, she has the best shot.
The huge catch-22 is that she still gets incredibly agitated when her sedation wears off. Partly delirious, partly anxious. But definitely agitated. In my mind, to call it a ‘challenge’ to accomplish being able to wean her down from sedation plus being able to keep her agitation down is an understatement. But that is the plan.
Today was the start, and she actually did better than she did yesterday. Yesterday, she had 7 doses of the paralytic and “on to the second page” of her as needed doses of sedation meds. Today, she has only had one paralytic since 7 am. I don’t know the amount of other meds she has needed today, but it has been pretty consistent. They are weaning down her fentanyl and versed drips and upping her ativan and methadone drips.
On a separate issue, she has developed pretty significant conjunctivitis (pink eye with a lot of goop). She has also developed a peripheral blood infection, so they started her on vancomycin today. Of course, when I hear “blood infection,” my first fear is sepsis. However, the docs all feel that this was caught very early so it should be okay.
They are going to place a PICC line very soon to help get her meds because her right femoral (leg) central line will no longer draw back blood. She can get meds through it, but they can’t draw from it anymore.
Dr. Bhakta came to visit Hannah and I today. He stayed for well over an hour, and it was wonderful having him there to talk with. I watched him when Hannah was getting agitated and needed more sedation, and he was just so good with her, putting his hand on her head and talking to her. He has also offered to help us find a medical team to accept Hannah when we transfer her to a vegas hospital in a couple of weeks.
Tomorrow is one day closer to an extubation attempt (my guess is on Wed or Thurs). One of the doctors mentioned a 40/60 chance of it being successful. Even with that kind of odds, I just still can not get excited about the possibility of it working. I hope, hope, hope it does. I would love to spare her the trach. I just am scared to get my hopes up.
Latest Comments