Today was another day with little happening. We arrived in time to be part of rounds. Essentially the plan stated was to continue slowly weening off cardiac meds and sedation. The anesthesiologist said that she was hoping tomorrow or maybe Wednesday would be the day they would extubate Alistair. His fever was up this morning, but with a little Tylenol and a cooling blanket, he was back to normal temps. The 24 hour culture results so far shows no growths, which hopefully means his fever is due to surgical inflammation. Tomorrow we will get the results of the cultures which will most likely show he is not fighting an infection. Right now he is on antibiotics as a precaution, but provided the cultures are clean, he will come off of them.
Today Alistair dropped Vasopressin and Calcium Carbonate, his sodium levels normalized and his blood sugars continue to be good. They have advanced their feedings of Pediasure. They backed off his sedation which should increase his blood pressure and help him be more awake for extubation. Everything is a balancing act. A lot of stuff that they are managing would be taken care of if he was breathing on his own, but he needs a lot of stuff to happen before he can start breathing on his own.
He stirred a few times today when they repositioned him. He also has been reacting to the tube in his throat and coughs...which looks more like a convulsion with no noise. But a few of those times he was restless with his hands and feet. I would hold his hand and reassure him then would ask him to squeeze my hand...and he did, nice and strong. I really miss his voice, but having him respond to me that way was soul soothing.
We have begun to move in, if you will, at the ICU. After prompting from some docs and nurses, we printed out photos and decorated his room door. Then the child life specialist printed out a name sign with some sports balls and aircraft on it. So now we get lots of care providers stopping to look at his photos and asking us questions...lots about his name!
We put this photo up to demonstrate his sense of humor. More people have seen it and crack up! So even in his current state, Alistair is still making people laugh!
Seth and I explored the hospital a little today. We went to the "chapel." I put that in quotes because when I say chapel, I think of a small room with a small altar, a few pews and a cross and some candles. This "chapel" is a church, almost a small cathedral. It is on the 1st floor, above the Main floor, and is tucked away from most of the area we are in. It is gorgeous!
So for tomorrow, as far as we know, it is another maintenance day. But there might be a chance, later in the day, that we could get Alistair awake and off the vent. That would be wonderful for so many reasons, but Alistair really wanted to watch the All-Star Game and it happens to be on tomorrow! Fingers crossed!
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