Sunday morning update

We had another really sweet nurse last night, Marissa. She took good care of Drew. I credit her with saving Drew's life because she found a large clot in Drew's arterial line. It would draw blood, but she could only push back a little bit. She finally pulled back a lot, and this long stringy clot came out. It's probably due to his positioning, he was laying on his side most of the afternoon. But still, not only could we have lost that line, it could have caused a problem. So we were pleased with her from the beginning. While we were there last night Drew woke up around 10 and tried to turn over onto his stomach! All three of us were trying to stop him and turn him back over, and prevent all his tubes and wires from getting pulled. It also looked like he was reaching for his breathing tube, but he only wanted to scratch his nose. Marissa helped him scratch his nose and asked if that was better and he nodded his little head. She also told me earlier while we were eating he woke up and she asked him if he had owies and he nodded yes. She gave him more fentanyl and versed each time. There is something about that that makes me sad. I guess just that he is more aware and can answer questions, but can't talk. We stayed with him until 10:45 or so and he was resting comfortably when we left.

We stayed with Kathy and both slept well. I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't wait until the alarm went off at 6 to call and check how Drew's night went. Marissa said he woke up three more times and seemed to be more uncomfortable when he woke up. She gave him three more doses of versed & fentanyl. She said she was able to comfort him and he would go back to sleep. They turned the vent down to 40% oxygen and 10 breaths per minute, and he is over breathing the vent, so that is good. The respiratory therapist (RT) thinks that Drew is ready to be extubated. He's had less secretions overnight. For now the plan is to give him propathol (a shorter acting sedative that doesn't affect respiration) at 7 so they can turn off the fentanyl and versed drips. That will allow him to wake up enough to have the tube out and breathe on his own. After that they will give him hourly doses of pain meds, as needed, instead of a continuous IV drip. We will be there at 7:30 after shift change and see what the plan is.

A quick update on Ava:
She has been having the time of her life playing at the hospital and at Grandma Kathy's house. We have her other grandma and grandpa, two great aunts & an uncle, my cousin & her husband and Uncle Scott all showering her with love and letting her get away with whatever she wants. I told them it will take us months to undo the damage they are doing! An example. My aunt gave her a piece of a chocolate chip cookie. Ava didn't want only a piece of a cookie and flung it down on the table. So my aunt gave her the rest of the giant cookie, you know, as a reward for being so polite. Then as she is eating the cookie she says " chocate. I yike it!" She is so sweet and it is nice having her around to liven up the place. She has been asking for Drew, but I haven't wanted to bring her to see him yet. I think once the breathing tube is out we can put a blanket over his body so she won't see all the tubes and let her see where he is. He will probably just look like he is sleeping.