Ron is doing much better.  Dr. Tita had the respiratory therapists change his trach down to a size 4 on Sunday.  He hopes to remove the trach on Wednesday morning, and possibly the gastro tube, too.  They are all trying to help Ron meet his goal to go home on Thursday, so he can watch The Masters at home.

Ron was telling the nurses how he missed his dog, Allie, and they said he could have me bring her up on Sunday.  So after late church and lunch with Marge, Charlie, Laura, and her boyfriend Matt, I gave Allie a bath and took her up to visit Ron for the afternoon and evening.  He was so happy to see her! (and she to see him!)  She was very good, but was very worried about Ron when "strange people" with masks, gloves, and isolation gowns, were over him changing his trach, and he was coughing terribly.  She whined and yipped when I wouldn't let her go over to him.  Afterward, she was relieved (tail wagging) to find that he was OK! 

They have stopped the moist air and lung treatments, so he is not coughing nearly as much.  The smaller trach tube is more comfortable, too.  Sunday night they did not have him on the vent at all; he was just on O2 all night, and slept very well.

Monday they had his O2 on only 1 to 1.5, and he did great.  They took him to the gym while his mom and Charlie were there.  He walked there and back, pushing the wheelchair!

When Tammy, Dr. Tita's Nurse Practitioner, came in to see him on Monday, she said he would probably have to go home with oxygen.  She also said a year or two down the road, he may still need to have the top portion of his right lung removed.  He still has the bullae (what Dr. Tita called pneumatocoeles) that may burst and cause trouble.  The alveole (lung tissues like little clusters of grapes where the oxygen exchange takes place) have coelesced into one lump of scar tissue (like an orange).  He will never have the use of that part of the lung, and will need to have regular x-rays to keep watching it.  His left lung has taken over much of the work, apparently, since his O2 saturation  levels are staying up at 96%.

Today, Tuesday, Dr. Tita was in, and they took him off the oxygen completely.  They also took out his pic line.  He is finally not connected to ANYTHING!  Wahoo!!

His blood pressure was very low 80's/60's!!  I think it is because they gave him Benedryl the last 2 nights to help him sleep, and he got dehydrated... plus he was still on Cardizem and Lopressor!  So they didn't give him any blood pressure medicine today, and had him drink, drink, and drink, water, juice, and pop all day.  They kept checking his bp every 2 hours.  Finally at 3:00 it was up to 108/66, so they let him get up to take a shower.  They took the bandage off the hole on his side where they took the chest tube out last Monday.  It looks pretty good.

He pushed the wheelchair down to the gym and back again today, and did well with no oxygen.  He had to take a couple breaks between beachball-volleyball and underhand-pitching-velcro-balls exercises, but his O2 saturation only dropped to the mid-80's when she checked it on the portable monitor, and came back up to 97% quickly, when he rested.

One of his respiratory therapists, Margo, said her husband and daughter are at The Masters this week, so in honor of Ron's goal, she is having them bring him back a hat.  Alan (Allen?), a friend of Andrew and Jenny's from CMC, also gave Ron a divot tool, ball marker, and sleeve of Pro-V1 balls with The Masters' logo!  Ron and Andrew played with him in the golf league at Riverby one year.  Wow, how nice!  :) 

His blood pressure was still down tonight - 94/65, but we asked the nurse not to give him Benedryl tonight.  Hopefully, he won't need anything to help him sleep, but if he does, she said she could give him Atavan or Xanax instead.  They have to stick to what is on his doctor-approved drug list.  (He'll probably be up peeing all night after drinking all the liquids all day!)

They are still hoping to have him ready to go home Thursday.  The social worker from Regency is setting up to have a home health care nurse check in on him once a day - take bp, temp., and listen to his lungs, etc.  They will have his hemoglobin levels checked once a week or so, and he will have to see the pulmonologists regularly.  I need to find him a shower chair, and he will have to be sure to use his C-pap machine at night.

Thanks for all the support!  Everyone has been so wonderful!

Love,
EJ