Ups and Downs

The marathon and drama continue, unfortunately. Every day there seems to be a few small improvements along with a few small setbacks (or sometimes large ones). The net result is that not much has changed since the last post. His blood pressure and heart rate are fairly stable, most of the time, but every once in awhile his blood pressure falls to 50/30, which is obviously not good. The nurses then give him a quick shot of steroids or other medication and it usually returns to a more stable number shortly thereafter.

There are two big things which have changed. The first is that on Tuesday the doctors discovered that Dad had developed a bleed in his gastrointestinal tract. He was given some blood and platelets and it seems to be under control now. It was a little scary when he passed a blood clot the size of a fist on Wednesday, but their hasn't been anything since then.

The other major development is that Dr. Bull thinks it would be beneficial for Dad to have a tracheotomy, which is when a hole is cut in a person's throat (I apologize for the blunt way of putting that). This will hopefully allow the ventilator pressure to be turned down to a more normal level, and will allow them to more easily remove the tube for short periods of time once Dad is ready to start being weened off of the ventilator. Additionally, I noticed today that his lips have become quite dry – despite the nurses very regularly placing cream on them – even to the point that there was some dried blood on them. Having the tube go through the "trach" will allow his mouth to be closed and moistened more naturally.

In order to get the tracheotomy, Dad will be going to the operating room at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Please pray for the procedure to go smoothly. Again, thank you to everyone for your prayers, visits, donations, food, and everything else everyone is doing to help our family. We couldn't have made it this far without all of you.