A Little Rocky

Today started off a little rough. Luke's 8AM blood gases weren't fantastic. His CO2 was up in the 70's, and they would like them in the 40's or 50's. So this development meant the ventilator settings were going back up to 24. His NNP, Kelly, wanted to watch closely since we are so close to trying to remove the vent. So he then had another gas at 11AM and his CO2 had come down to the 60's. Kelly didn't want to wait till tonight to check the settings, so she ordered another blood gas at 5PM right before she left for the evening. Also we had been watching his hematocrit levels. They had dropped to around 27, so they asked me about giving him blood. Before they could get the whole question out I had already answered with a "YES." I do not want to wait till his tummy changes colors and we worry about an infection again like last time. They are finally listening to me, haha. Just kidding, the team is great down here. Kelly also believes the blood will help when we pull the tube. Just a little bit of an extra boost. They also began giving Luke a dose of caffeine. This is just an added assistant to help him remember to breathe. When they do pull the tube, he will need to breathe on his own, so this will help. When 5PM came around Luke's blood gas was back to the 50's, so Kelly just maintained his settings for the night. We will see how his gas is in the morning, and they will make the decision where to go from there. It is still up in the air if the tube will come out tomorrow or sometime this weekend. It is all up to Luke at this point. I wanted to baby the little guy, but now I know he is getting way to comfortable on the ventilator and we need to push him a bit. So tonight I am praying that tomorrow will be the day and that we will finally get to see his whole face without a bunch of tape on it. I just hope that if we can pull the tube, he will be able to maintain himself and not have to go back on the ventilator again. Thank you everyone for all the support. Hoping tomorrow that I can post of great pictures.

Jordan