Bucking the ventilator

So much for sleeping peacefully, Daddio. You gave 'em hell last night. You had begun to breathe in opposition of the Agitator 4000. Your blood pressure spiked (over 200, I believe?), and you had a period of time in which you were experiencing PVCs every 2nd and 3rd heartbeat. By the time Lee and I got there at 11am, your PVCs were much less frequent, but your nurse Jill was trying to get your fever down and was only just starting to feel a little better about your bp at 169. I guess you were giving them a hint. Maybe you were back for the helm.

They need to keep you on the bucking bronco for at least another night, but it looks like they'll move you to a normal ventilator soon. In the meantime though, they're inducing chemical paralysis to keep you from digging in your spurs. The paralysis is temporary, and within 2-3 hours of not receiving a scheduled dose, you'll come right out of it. It's tough for us to think about your not being able to move if you wanted to, but then again, you haven't been playing too pretty with the ventilator. Without this paralysis treatment, when we saw you at 11am, you were "see-sawing," or "bucking the ventilator," two phrases Jill used. Chest up, tummy up, chest down, tummy down. And by the time Dixie, Sammee, Nik, Forrest, Asia and I were there again at 2pm, your breathing rhythm was much smoother, your fever was going down and your bood pressure was down to 139. (Incidentally, when I list that many people, there aren't that many people in the room at one time. They don't run that kind of ship!)

Your doctors and nurses have also taken you off the medication they were giving you to help loosen the particulants in your lungs. It is a blood thinner, and this morning when they went to suction the goop from your lungs, they saw a little blood, too. (Not an unexpected side effect. A doctor gave the heads up to Dixie that it sometimes happens, and when it does, that's their signal to stop it. But it's worth the better chance it gives you to get the crap out of there, as long as your body allows them to use it.)

So, you're calling several new plays on the field. And they're responding like the amazing team they are. We'll see what the next day at the rodeo brings us. (And what various mixed metaphors I can throw out there.)