Tracheotomy Complete

Good Morning. You can thank Justin for changing the layout of the blog. He is in Houston, and when I got on this morning I was wondering who changed the blog, it was him. I must admit, it makes it easier to read.

I was just about to tell everyone that they were in the middle of placing the trach, but the ENT just came out and all went well with the trach. They ended up doing it at the bedside because it would take an army to wheel all of his accessories to the OR. The ENT said he is breathing as well or better than before the procedure. We don't know when they are going to start making changes to his ventilator settings. They are going to start weaning off of his sedation a little. Please pray that he will not be agitated and that God would give him His peace that passes all understanding- that he would not be fearful or afraid, but would breath comfortably.

He had a slight rough night. They didn't call us, but his blood pressure became low again, and they had to restart him on the blood pressure medicine- only 1 drug this time. They have been able to wean it a little this morning. Also, his saturations were lower last night. His paO2 that had risen to 77 yesterday went back to 66 this morning. Dr. Ruiz thinks it is the antirejection medicine they are giving him because this is what happened Saturday night on top of the infection. The past 2 nights have been relatively good nights, and then they gave the medicine again yesterday afternoon. They don't really have any other options with the antirejection medicine because the other one they would use is harsh on the kidneys. They will continue this one every third day. After 3-4 doses, the side effects are supposed to lessen.

His liver enzymes went up a little bit, but they think it is also the medication. His INR is still at 1.3 so his liver continues to hang in there. They are drawing some blood to send for fungal cultures today, just to make sure there isn't any fungus lurking around. These can take a week before they grow.

Please continue to pray that God would touch Phil's body today in a way that only He can. God doesn't need doctors, nurses, medications, machines- He only needs to think it to heal Phil.