August 6, 2009

Today was a win for Gabe! He kept on fighting and his lungs looked good enough to go to CT today. They were able to get him down at about 2 p.m. today and he was in and out in about an hour. Not too bad. Shannon said that it was amazing just how much was involved in moving the little man, she said it took a small army to accomplish everything. Unfortunately we will not know the results of the CT scan until tomorrow and even that will just be a preliminary report. The doctor who has the final say if you will won't be back until Monday. The downside of today's little adventure came at a cost of Gabe getting quite a bit more puffy. They had said that it could be a result of them having to paralyze him for the CT procedure. The doctors have put Gabe back on the Albumen instead of the FFP which they have used in the past with good success. They are also giving him Lasix along with the Albumen to help get rid of the fluid. Hopefully I will return in the morning to find the little man a bit smaller than he is now. The occupational therapist came by today to give Gabe a little massage and to move some of his joints again. They also made a special splint to hold Gabes hands straight since he is unable to move them since he's knocked out most of the time and isn't moving them. He likes his massage sessions and seems to relax enough that all his vital signs improve. I will have to get a video of him making faces as he gets his arms massaged, its pretty funny.

Gabe's night nurse "B" is hooking Gabe up with his old spaceship bed again. Gabe loves being in this bed because it is so much more quit and much more peaceful inside when it is closed up. They planned on moving him over to the new bed at around midnight. I decided that I should probably get some sleep instead of waiting around. I know that he is in good hands tonight and I don't have to worry about to much. I will update you all in the morning. Here are a couple shots of the little man all puffy, just to give you an idea of how much he fluctuates in a day. I have also attached a video of how he gets suctioned. Gabe is a man of regularity. He likes to scare the nurses about every hour by getting his breathing tube plugged up with secretions which they then have to clean out before his oxygen saturation drops too low. This is what he endures about every hour like clockwork.