The nurses have been telling us for a couple days that since Ron is not getting much better, the next step is to do a tracheotomy.  They cannot keep him with the tube down his throat for more than 2 weeks (which it will be tomorrow.)  He will still be on the breathing machine, but through the trach tube in his neck instead of through his mouth.  They came in to ask me about doing the procedure just a little bit ago.  It should actually be more comfortable for Ron.  They will ask the surgeon to consult, he will come see Ron, and then they will schedule the surgery, probably tomorrow.  I will need to be here 2 hours before the surgery, but I don't think the surgery itself takes long. The guy in the room next door (who came in the same day Ron did) went down for the same surgery this afternoon at about 1:30, and was back in his room by 2:30. They will put in a stomach tube for feeding at the same time, so that won't be down his throat either.
 
His chest x-ray is no better, and he has a secondary infection, now, that has taken up residence in that same right lung (showed up Saturday when they cultured his sputum, which they do every monring.)  He had a 102* fever this a.m., so got Tylenol, and fever was still down at 2:00.  They have lowered the Atavan (sedative and anti-anxiety drug) from 8mg. to 6mg., and only had to give the Fentanyl (pain killer) once so far today at about 1:45.
 
He is still on the Cefepine antibiotic every 12 hours. He does have some slight skin rash, but they don't think it is caused by an allergic reaction to the Cefepine.  They are watching it closely, but it does not seem to be getting worse.  They tried unbleached linens yesterday and today, and that did not seem to make any difference.
 
His numbers still look OK:  heart rate is 91; bp is 125/70.  O2 input is still at 50%, and O2 saturation is 95%.  His respirations are 30, and the peep has been lowered to 11. (Peep is a setting on the respirator that is something like how long the lung holds a breath in while it absorbs the O2, before it is exhaled.)  As long as his saturation level stays up, they will try to gradually lower the peep.
 
They have switched him to a lower potassium feeding to get his potassium level down.
 
Thanks for your continued prayers and positive thoughts!
 
Love,
EJ

They decreased his level of sedative 2mg this morning and he has tolerated that well . He was able to squeeze the nurses hand and opened his eyes when I talked to him today.
His heart rate is 90
blood pressure 119 /63
Oxygen sat 97
Oxygen level still at 50
~ Laura
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