It's Friday

Good Friday morning my friends,

Yesterday was a good day for us. Daddy had the tracheotomy done without event. The oxygen rate was lowered to 60% last night and his blood gases were almost normal this morning. The respirator has been turned down to 6 (machine takes 6 breaths a minute and he does the rest). He is still having times of restlessness so we hold his hands and love on him until the meds do their thing. Today he will have the feeding tube inserted directly into his stomach. Dr Hameed tried to do it at bedside earlier this morning but couldn't see to his satisfaction so we are waiting for him to be taken to radiology to have it done. Kidney doc was in earlier. He has decreased the Lasix to see how he does over the weekend. Dr Dean, cardiology, came late yesterday and said all was well there.  

The nurses, respiratory therapists, aids and doctors are all wonderful here at St Lukes. We have been very blessed. So many of them treat daddy as if he was their family. I pray daily for their wisdom and strength.

Our biggest hurdle is getting daddy off the respirator. Because he has COPD and emphysema, his lungs have come to "depend" on the machine for help. Dr C is going very slowly in the weaning process. I believe he will come off the respirator and the feeding tube will be removed.

Thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement. I miss our Friday night dinner and a movie and look forward to see you all again very soon.

Believing with you.