Blogging Baby Bear

3/3/09 (happy square root day!)

Good morning, friends! Happy Half Birthday, Coley!!!

It is a great morning: sunny, crisp, Coley’s awake and has had two bottles. He’s still uncomfortable (that’s probably an understatement), but is on some heavy-duty motrin via IV to help with that. They think that after the Glenn procedure, the patient has a wicked headache due to increased pressure in the head (as the resistance in the lungs is higher – yes, it’s complicated). He is not on any sedatives, though. And very little O2 to help him out. They’re weaning him off the O2 in preparation for moving him to step down. They’ll take out his chest tubes (draining the space around his lungs) later today, too, which will greatly reduce his pain and increase his mobility. Either way, though, they said we can hold him later, even with the chest tubes in, if they can’t come out.

So, I’m going to share a scary story from last night. Don’t read on if you don’t want to know… Last night when they extubated him (took out the breathing tube out of his trachea), he had some trouble clearing secretions from his lungs, throat, and head. He wanted to cough them out, but couldn’t muster up the strength, and it must have hurt to try. So they had to suction through his nose and throat over and over and over again. He would get so mad that he would freak out, hold his breath after letting it all the way out, and not take a breath in for many seconds. His O2 sats would plummet, blood pressure would spike, and give everyone a scare. Once, he “desatted,” meaning his sats went way down below 40, and he became bradycardic, meaning his heart rate slowed way down. That was a very scary moment, when the nurse (who was AMAZING) had to page the cardiac medical team, and they had to use the bag to give him breath. But he always came through it pretty much on his own, even when they bagged him they did it just as a precaution.

The main issue was just that he was in pain and so mad at them for ripping that tube out of his throat and lungs through is nose. Wouldn’t you be angry? Anyway, as the fellow who was just here said, “He has a strong personality and his was showing us that.” Yeah, Coley! Be strong, baby.