Good Night

Last night when we went back in to see Drew there were still a lot of people in his room getting him stable. He had a little fever, likely the body's response to the trauma of surgery and bypass, and so they put him on a cooling blanket. He is also in another research study on IV acetaminophen so he's getting that every 6 hours which should also help the fever. His main issue has been staying sedated. While we were in there he kept opening his eyes and sort of gagging on the breathing tube. They hadn't gotten the IV drips of fentanyl and versed yet and he was breaking through the sedation. So we decided to wait and come back when there were less people in the room.

We went back around 9 and stayed with him for about an hour. He was doing well. They had to push the breathing tube a little further down because it was starting to come out (probably from the gagging). I asked them to play his Veggie Tales CD when things settled down and to take care of his little crusty mouth. It gets very dry when the tube is in and it looked uncomfortable to me. When we were there the second time his heart rate looked better and his temp was normal. They promised they would keep him sedated and asleep so we went back to the hotel to sleep, probably our last time sleeping in the same bed until we get home.

We slept really well last night, but I awoke with a start this morning and just had to call and find out how Drew was doing. The nurse said he had a good night, he was stable all night. She said they'd been trying to keep him sedated, but he was hard to sedate. I guess he would wake up a little bit, but she would tell him to go back to sleep and he would listen. He also threw up once last night, so they put in an NG tube to drain some of the bile that was in his stomach and gave him some anti-nausea meds to make him feel better. I'm glad I wasn't there when that happened, I imagine it would be pretty scary to see someone on a breathing tube throw up. They have also turned down his ventilator rate and oxygen, so he is doing more of the work on his own.

Our plan is to be there by the time shift change is over at 7:30. Once we hear from any doctors we'll let you know what the plan is.