Holding Steady

Dad's heart rate is currently stuck on the high side - it should be in the 70-80 range, but it's hovering around 105-120 instead. So they don't want to fiddle with him too much, as changing things can create stress, and stress could further elevate his heart rate.

He is still on the Amiodarone, and they've added Digoxin to try to bring the heart rate down. They've scaled back on the ventilator slightly - it's now doing a bit less work and he's having to do more of his own breathing. Soon they might take his sedation down a bit and see how he tolerates it. I'm really anxious for them to lower the sedation, as we haven't had a chance to interact with him at all, and ever since a nurse mentioned his "unknown neuro status" I've been fretting about it. So let's hope that his heart rate stabilizes soon and they can start decreasing his sedation and ventilator dependence.

Yesterday they told us that they were considering (1) sticking a needle into him to draw off some fluid that had accumulated around his lungs, and (2) giving him a tracheotomy so that he can start moving around but still have ventilator assistance. Today they are telling us that they are not planning to do either of those things, as it would premature at this point, and again, they don't want to do anything to tax his heart and increase his heart rate. So... I suppose that's good?

The last 24 hours have been relatively calm; no major oh-no-that-number-on-the-monitor-is-going-crazy-here-come-the-nurses-rushing-in moments. So we're hoping his body is just trying to come out of the shock of it all and heal itself. We've all had a good night's sleep (finally!), so today feels like a pretty good day. Hoping for more of those.