Thursday, October 1, 2009

Yet Another Day of Small Improvements

Today's xray showed the same amount of fluid in the lungs as yesterday. In my book, that's a win; we didn't take a step backwards. Alex's temperature came back down into the 99's all by itself without Tylenol; another win. His ventilator settings are slightly better than yesterday; again, an inch forward is better than an inch back.

When changing his wound dressing today, the surgeon found some pus and infection. Apparently that kind thing can develop fairly rapidly. They irrigated and repacked it; I'll spare you anymore details. (I am becoming less and less squeamish daily, but then I'm seeing this every day...) His temperature had started to go up during the day today, and we think it can be attributed to the wound infection. I haven't called back to the hospital, but I'm hoping his temp has started to drop again after the re-dressing.

We're trying to keep Alex as quiet as we can while his lungs recooperate. I've brought in CDs of his favorite bands to play on the boombox some brilliant nurse brought in. Music has always been so important to Alex; as most of you know there's always music on in the studio and the house. Some familiar sounds (besides our voices) can definitely have a calming effect.

We hope that tomorrow will bring the absence of fever, and more improvements in the lungs and the oxygen saturation levels. No big steps today, but no backsliding either. I call that a good day.

1 comment:

Patricia Griffin Ceramics said...

Music and your calm presence has got to help. No backsliding is good. Thinking of you and hoping to hear about more improvements. Thanks for keeping us informed. We're all pulling for Alex.