Ethan’s Journey

 It has already been a busy morning.  This ICU room has been like a busy freeway, people hustling and bustling their way through to examine, listen to and medicate Ethan.  They have lifted some of Ethan's sedation.  He is still very sleepy but there is almost no delirium.  That is good. However, he is now more awake and trying to talk.  Talking is just mouthing things to me and me having to guess. We have established that we will never be partners in a game of charades because I suck at it.   Ethan has been very curious of what his machines are for, he asked to be sat up and his eyes look slightly better than before.  If I am sitting on the window seat, he knows he can whack his hand on the bed to get my attention. He will try to mouth what he needs.  He does it so fast and makes super long sentences.  It is impossible to figure out.  I keep saying "one word at a time".  Today we are going to use a letter board but I am not sure how well he sees since he is still on sedat

Ethan is doing well this morning.  He is in a sitting position (still paralyzed and comatose).  His eyes continue to heal, they are still taped shut. I have him listening to a performance car Netflix special.  I was hoping the engine revving on the show will rev his engine too. He is responding positively to the increase in lung pressure medication.   Today will be another big day for him. One of his surgeons cam in today and told me that she weaned him off of Heparin, so that she can remove THREE of his four chest tubes (WHAT????)  Ethan is overachieving right now.  What a super surprise for today! It will be nice to head into the weekend with those tubes gone. She came in already and removed them. 3 less tubes. Nice.   It was mentioned that they want to wean him off the paralysis medication. I understand why, however, Ethan has proven they can NOT regulate his sedation well at all.  He is a force to be reckoned with. So I am a little hesitant until they can get this breathing tube ou

  It was a relatively quiet night. Ethan’s blood pressure is low.  His breathing tube had to be suctioned a few times. They have this tube they insert in his breathing tube to vacuum out the mucus. Then you can see it in a clear tube going to the “holding tank”. Sounds gross but it gives an idea of what is down there. Blood?  Mucus?  Ethan hates the process. He feels like he can’t breathe. His xray I thought looked like it had some improvement from yesterday. I am not a radiologist so who knows. But I feel pretty good about my assessment. He is in an upright sitting position today. I am happy for that. I don’t know when they will come off the paralysis medication. I don’t mind not having to tackle him. Day 18 and we finally are seeing some gut movement. I was beginning to think he would be full of shit forever. This still may remain true but not in a literal sense. He is getting a culture done because they are concerned he has C-diff. Everyone is now in basically a hazmat suit that com