Thursday, March 26

8.38am report: just spoke with the nurses in the ICU and they do accept food deliveries from outside. I am going to mention to a few of my friends who have asked what they can do - i will give them my venmo account and they can donate whatever… i will call pizza post and/or polpo to have some food delivered…. restaurants are giving good deals on providing food to staffers…

No news is good news, I have a call into the doctor and I’m waiting to hear back

10.30am report: hi - just got off with the Dr and she said that all the tests basically look the same. His inflammatory markers that they compare every day are also about the same. The x-ray however looked a little worse this morning - yet that is not an indicator that there is a problem, it might just mean that the second that the photo was snapped he was on an exhale, etc.. They did need to adjust the oxygen levels to provide a bit more, however they are working to stabilize that to the levels where he was yesterday. Again - clinically looking they said everything is the same. They are switching his sedation medication to work better with his blood pressure - not an issue there… Now he is on day 3 of the 5 day course of his meds (the malaria Concoction) - they will need to assess if they will continue or change the medication path - this all based on change in the markers and overall progress. He continues to have no fever yet he does have some shaking/chills episodes as she reports to see in many of the patients. She mentioned that they are getting busier by the day and ages are much more mixed than expected. So no major changes and looking forward to another stable day 🤞🏻

2.15pm report: just spoke to nurse Kathy and she was a bit more of a straight shooter than any other nurses that i have spoke with. She did state that there is no change as he is still deeply sedated. They did have to bump up his oxygen earlier today from about 40 to 60 - that is not unexpected, she said. They will attempt tomorrow to lower the levels in efforts to work toward weaning him off all together. She also stated that his lipid levels went up and that his kidney function is still a bit elevated - that stems from low fluids which is essential for the lungs to repair themselves. so they are managing that and monitoring his urine output closely. So little positive movement and a couple of hiccups but he is still hanging in there.. He is a stubborn fighter - we all know that…

5.45pm report: Its been a quiet afternoon of tweaking meds in either direction and coming down a bit on the sedation medication. All normal for a day in the ICU. He appears to be comfortable and resting well. Not too many updates on progress at this hour as all of his markers are tested/read in the early am. The staff got the dinner we sent and was grateful. i think well keep that up - important to keep them well nourished and on their game! In case of a dire situation where a ventilator is not doing its job - they turn the patients on their belly to oxygenate lungs - this is risky. Not needed, just received the information.

9.15pm report: They were able to bring his oxygen support levels back to 40% and he is resting comfortably at 95% oxygen. this is a good sign - they did bring it down from 60% support earlier today. He is comfortably sedated and his blood pressure is holding stable - that is a result of the change in sedation meds.. They are happy with how the new ones are working.. His kidney functions which were elevated earlier are now stable and his urinary output is on track as it is a difficult balance of hydration - between needing to be hydrated for kidneys and being dry for his lung support.. Vital signs stable which is good for now… All in all - a quick call with little new to report -

from Adam: Not sure if hill mentioned earlier but they run the full battery of tests (blood, X-rays etc..) every morning at 5am which is best picture of how he’s doing. The 10-11am check in each morning is with the doctor gets those results.

11.30 report: No change - all is the same for now.. that is good.. don’t forget that dad was put on the ventilator in the first place because he was trying to remove his own mask.. originally, his lungs did not require the tube - but it was important to make the switch so we wouldn’t tamper with it…. just saying…. good night - try to sleep - love you all….

A bit of R&R for me - trying to brighten things up!