Thankfully, though we virtually went back in time today, we are ending the day about where we started, but much better than where we were headed. Mason had a really bad day today with his climbing carbon dioxide reaching a critical point, his oxygen saturations tanking, and his ventilator needs going up.
We've watched the trend of the carbon dioxide level going up over the last week and yesterday were able to pin point the likely reason. However, before being able to do something about it today, Mason decided that we needed to act more quickly. I left to take a walk at about 10:30 this morning while Mason was sleeping and doing ok. But by 11:00, his carbon dioxide level was out of control and his saturations were plummeting. Thankfully, the RT today was the one who has worked with Mason the most and understands his needs. She adjusted his ventilator settings, bagged him for a little more oxygen and stabilized him for the moment. We also increased his steroids a smidge (giving half of the wean from last Friday back to him), gave him an extra dose of lasix , and increased his oxygen concentration to help him stop getting worse. About 5 hours after it all started, we started to see an improvement. It was a very long 5 hours in which we weren't sure if we were too late in making the changes or if we were causing more problems with his low saturations. Mason was quite agitated and with each temper tantrum, his carbon dioxide climbed and his saturations plummeted again. We tried everything to keep him calm and allow the ventilator to do it's job, but most of the time to no avail. Finally, we remembered how much he liked being held and bounced when he had reflux so bad when he was first came home. It was worth a shot, and thankfully, seemed to do the trick. As he calmed down, his carbon dioxide level came down, his saturations went up, and we were able to bring the oxygen concentration back down bit by bit. He still doesn't do well if he gets too agitated, but is in a much better place than earlier today.
Today has been a long day with a lot of emotions resurfacing that we were hoping to put behind us. We still have a very long road ahead of us and hope that we can resume seeing improvement now that we've learned a little more about Mason's ventilator and steroid needs.
Rate: 35
Inspiratory Pressure: 22
Inspiratory Time: 0.65
PEEP: 12
FiO2: 68%
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4 comments:
I will pray for a better day tomorrow for you and Mason.
We have not wings we cannot soar; but, we have feet to scale and climb, by slow degrees, by more and more, the cloudy summits of our time.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Love, hugs and prayers,
Carrie and Krishnan
Thank goodness that the RT who knows Mason the best was there! Hope you all can get a good nights sleep tonight and that tomorrow is a MUCH better day. Want you to know we are still praying and thinking of you often.
Every day I open the blog, and before I double click, I say my silent prayer asking for a complete miracle. You are saints and I am humbled by your goodness and your Godliness.
Blessings to Mason's amazingly wonderful parents.
Hugs and prayers.
Patty B
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