Another Night

Yesterday afternoon they took James off the aneasthetic and put him on morphine to relieve any pain and keep him somewhat sedated. We were a bit concerned about how he would react to the tubes once he was aware of his surrounds, but typical James style ... he is doing really well.

Most of yesterday they kept his hands restrained but at night I was able to release one hand and he did not pull at the tube. Today he has both hands free and is being very good. Because of the excessive amount of fluid and secretion in his lungs he is needing frequent suctions (where they put a suction tube down his ventilating tube in order to remove any blockage and lose secretion from coughing). Yesterday he was quite upset each time they did this and would bite on his ventilating tube to try stop them from putting the suction tube down. Today he has come to accept this procedure but his eye tell us he does not like it any better then before. As he cannot talk it is so very hard for us to know what is going through his mind. His eyes look so sad it is painful to look at him at times, but yet he lays there so patiently and is so good. I want so badly to just pick him up and hold him, but we cannot.

We took turns sitting with him last night so that someone was always there to comfort him. Once again we are thankful for the room we have on the ward where we can go for quiet and sleep. They have decided to keep James in ICU at least one more night, so we're not sure how much longer that room will be available to us.

Because of James' metabolic issue they are pushing to have him back on his feeding tube again and started it very slowly this morning. We are not impressed with this idea and will fight a bit harder to have it stopped. His belly is so distended from all the air that is being pumped into him and we have had his tube open most of the time and mucas and phlegm continues to flow out of the tube, especially with each coughing fit. Now he will not be able to release that air and at the same time we are pumping food in. If the stomach is distended it puts pressure on the lungs, making it more difficult to breath ... why they can't see that simple fact is beyond me. It's funny how they feel just because they have a way to push food in they need to. Any normal person would have been put on TPN (IV nutrition) as they would not be able to stuff food into them when they have a ventilator.

This mornings x-ray looked worse then yesterdays (they took several throughtout the day). They tell us this is normal, that x-rays are usually behind in showing the inflammation so they are not suprised by this. Clinically he is improving and they have been able to wean him slowly. James is also not peeing and needs medication to do so, which means he is retaining fluid and this can also effect the lungs and what the x-ray looks like. This on top of how much was left in his lungs yesterday. Nurses can sometimes help you to get a clearer picture of things. For example yesterdays nurse was interested in what exactly they were trying to do with James. When I told her they had left 440ml of saline water in his lungs she was absolutely stunned, she had no idea that much had been left in and suddenly began to understand why he needed suction so often. She then explained that when they do a small BAL (lavage) in the ICU they put in 1ml per kg. This would mean in James they would only put in 11ml and then withdraw what they can ... and here were left 440ml in.

They think that James could possibly come of the ventilator tonight, but will be leaving him until tomorrow morning. They do not want to remove it too soon as they would then have to put him on BiPAP (see here for pictures) ... and we definitely don't want to put him through that again. As well once they remove the ventilator they can no longer suction him, and the more we can suction the better. So as it stands nwo we will be spending another night in ICU.

We got the results of James' weekend stool test today ... one day too late. He no longer has C.Diff. If we had had those results yesterday they would have been able to do a colonoscopy and better look at his colitis issues.

Thanks you all for your continued support.

Philippians 4:13 "I can do everything through him who gives me strength"