Twitch Meter!

Probably you can tell by the title of tonight's blog that perhaps "things" are not as critical as last night! Looks like he really needed oxygen. He woke up very alert this morning...responding to requests/commands from varous members of the medical teams. Melany arrived and a little later Nathan got here. Melany brought me breakfast that Wade had cooked. She and her Daddy had a giod "conversation." Good start for the day for me! Nathan talked with Woody and told him about Elijah and his ball playing. I don't know if I have ever mentoned that Elijah is on North Middle School Baseball Team in Winchester, TN. Well, when Nathan told something that Elijah had said about playing ball, Woody gave a big grin...well...as big as you can with a tube in your mouth and down your throat! It was probably the first time that Inhad seen Woody show an emotion on his face since Saturday. After they talked...Nathan doing the talking and Woody doing the nodding, Woody started moving the fingers on his left hand...he was signing letters of the alphabet...trying to communicate that way...it was a bit of a guessing game as Nathan and I weren't totally sure about the letters. It was almost like playing a game of charades! We ended the "game" when some doctors came in. But we were impressed that he had come up with that method of communication! Both Melany and Nathan were reelieved to see their daddy doing so well! Woody has had a bronchio scooe of his lung...checked things out and cleared out some of the mucus still in the right lobe. They had to heavily dpsedate him to get that procedure done. He is having a bit of a hard time waking back up. They want him to wake up so they can get him ready to take the vent tube OUT! Yes, he has had the tube in for less than 24 hours...yesterday at this time he was getting seen over here in ICU and today doing well enough to get rid of the tube. Kathy's sister is a nurse and she said that it is almost a miracle to be on a ventilator for only one day! Can you spell MIRACLE!?! I think that they use this twitch meter to test his reaction to stimulus or is it stimuli? They have come in tonwork on him...we'll see if he twitches...maybe! Today we had several people stop by who want him to participate in some trial studies. He very strongly indicated that he wanted to do it...a big shake of the head when she asked! He likes to be a guiena pig! So in the end we signed up for two of these studies...one ends once he is out of icu...so hopefully that will be soon! The other one is a bit more long lived...we'll see about that...can stop at any time. Woody's nephrology team chose to give him the day off today. They looked at labs that would indicate thr need for dialysis and his were within limits to let him have a day off. One of the icu doctors was amazed when he saw Woody this morning and compared him to last night. He was very pleased to see his response to commands and his interaction. Oh, by the way, I was in the waiting room for almost 5 hours last night! When it got to the five hour mark and having heard nothing, I managed to find a care giver who was entering the icu unit and I asked her to check for me. The nurses had no idea Inwas there...guess that info hadn't been passed on at shift change. One of Woody's nurses said that Woody wasn't even in his icu room when they clocked in...I was very glad to finally get in and find out what was going on. They had run a CT scan on his head and on his chest and pelvis. His head showed no reason for the confusion. The CT scan showed a collapsed right lung with lots of gunk in it that he had asperated. There was also a oriblem with low blood pressure. He stabilized pretty quickly. They intubated him and he was on the vent when I got to the room. And, soon he will be off it...if he will just wake up! He has been very calm over having it down his throat. He understands and we have been telling him that it is coming out today. I'm sure he wants it out, but orobably dreads it coming out, too! I'm very glad to be posting this report tonight! He is still quite sick, but perhaps climbing slowly up out of the deep pit he has fallen into! They have also begun inceasing his nutrition through the tube that goes from his nose into his stomach. We've got to get food into him to sustain him! Lots of hurdles ahead, but at thr moment the oxygen level scare is behind us. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!