Saturday, July 18, 2009

July 16, 2009

The little man had another rough night. His oxygen levels were going up and down along with his CO2 levels. Both his lungs continued to be in some state of collapse, something they call “roaming” collapse. Early in the morning his chest x-ray was showing some fluid around the right lung. This was the side that the right chest tube came out. Doctor “J” decided that it was time to put another chest tube in to get rid of that fluid. Gabe continued to have mild to moderate collapses in his left lung all day and minor collapse in his left lung. Fortunately they were able to increase his Morphine and Versed dosages to help keep him comfortable. Shannon and I noticed that with the increase in pain medications, Gabe wasn’t making his painful face. Another upside of more pain medication is that Gabe doesn’t fight the oscillator (ventilator). Instead he relaxes and lets the oscillator do all the work. Gabe’s oxygen and CO2 levels went up and down all day. As of 11 p.m. his O2 levels are getting better and his CO2 levels are holding steady. Unfortunately they are going to continue to turn him every 12 hours and he absolutely does not like this. It can take him one to three hours to recover from a turn. The plan for tonight is to do as little as possible and let him rest. We will continue to call over to the NICU throughout the night to check on his status. Please continue to keep Gabe in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you all.

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