They moved Ron back from 127 ICU to 108, the step-down unit down the hall, at about 2:00 this afternoon.  The cardiologist, Dr. Maaieh, said the echocardiogram done yesterday showed his heart is strong, not damaged at all from his three tachycardia episodes.  He said, again, how the heart is so sensitive, and it is probably just reacting to the pneumothorax pushing everything aside in his chest, and then everything shifting back.  He had the ICU nurse discontinue the Cardizem drip as of 12:10 p.m.  She watched him until 2:00 before they moved him, to make sure he was doing OK without it.
 
I also talked to the Infectious Disease doctor, Dr. Awad, who said that at the moment, the pneumonia is not active.  No cultures, blood or sputum came back positive for strep pneumonia or acinetobacter.  The CT scan showed scarring on his lungs, but no areas are actively infected.  His temperature and white count are normal, and temp has stayed down all day.  His chest tube site is healing well, and is not hurting unless he really moves.  She said to pray that he stays with no infections!  They discontinued the Cefepine antibiotic as of Monday afternoon.
 
I missed the pulmonologist, which I guess was just the resident.  Ron said someone told him Dr. Tita and Mohajen don't do regular rounds on Tuesdays.  I want to talk to one of them tomorrow.  I want to know when they think they may be ready to send him back to Regency, or if he can stay here at St. V's until the chest tube comes out.  I do not want him having the heart tachycardia episodes at Regency...  The nurses have all told me to voice that concern to them.  It seems that the chest tube and the tachycardia have some connection, whether or not the pulmonologists have ever seen a chest tube cause such a problem. 
 
They did not give him any more blood last night (after the first unit caused such a terrible reaction.)  They had planned to give him 2 units, as his hemoglobin was down to 7.5.  His morning bloodwork showed it was 7.7 today, which is a little low (12-15 is normal) but not extremely so.  They want to just keep him stable right now.
 
He ate pretty well today, and so far (knock on wood) it has been a good day!  His heart is behaving itself for the first time in 4 days!  He looks much better than yesterday, overall.  Yesterday was VERY scary! Watching him shake and turn blue with 3 heated blankets on him and that phone call at 5:20 this morning were the worst parts of this whole thing since the first two or three days back in February.  It has been 5 weeks as of today, that he's been on a ventillator.
 
Thanks for all the prayers, supportive notes and emails, help with the dogs, and hugs.
 
Love,
EJ