New Year's Eve - 7:30 am

Ken is really wired up. He now has 12 bags dripping into him of different meds. He has 2 extra IV lines, one for pulling blood to check his Oxygen and CO2 level, the other for more meds. He has 2 neuro strips on his forehead to check his level of paralysis. Plus the chest tube which is now draining again. The chest tube helps keep his lung inflated. Plus the huge tubes attached to his trach for the Oscillator. It has 4 tubes. Ken has wires everywhere. But his color looks good. His vitals are stable again. 83 heart rate, 95 oxygen level, 134/72 blood pressure. They gave him 2 units of blood already this morning. He usually swells up with fluid when they give him blood, so we'll see what happens today. They said he was low on fluid anyway, so hopefully it won't hurt him today. His poor hands are already swollen way up. I am wearing his wedding ring to keep it safe for him till he can wear it again.
Melissa was his nurse yesterday. She knew a lot about the oscillator. I was glad she was here. Becky was here last night and she will be back tonight. She is an intern getting her masters in nursing. But she also knew a lot about the oscillator. Today we have Matt. He seems through and has been very helpful on the floor. I just don't think he has ever been assigned to Ken. The oscillator is sort of new to him. But I could tell during report that he seemed to understand all that Becky was telling him. The nurses don't have to stay in the room every minute with Ken on the oscillator, but they do. It isn't required, but I appreciate that they are staying in here. This machine is sort of overwhelming. Matt and I were just saying that the rhythm of it reminds us of the movie, "Weekend at Bernie's". And it makes Ken jump in his chest, kinda like Bernie did at first before he started to get up. I'm going to have to watch that movie again with Ken when he wakes up. We both liked that movie.
So today's goals are to keep Ken comfortable, to keep his sedation at a steady level, to keep his stats even, but to start to ween the oxygen input on his oscillator. He started at 100% yesterday. He came down to 95% at the end of the day shift, to 90 and then 85% during the night. They just turned him down to 80% 30 minutes ago. The oxygen level in Ken was 95%, when they turned the machine down to 80% input, he only dropped to 93%. That is great. The lower they can get the input down with Ken staying above 90% the better. He hasn't had a fever for over 24 hours, so that is good too. He did get Tylenol this morning with his blood transfusion though. That is standard procedure.
Matt is funny. He is doing all his nursing stuff, changing tubes, checking stats, checking machines. But he bounces, or shakes his head, or taps his foot, or even whistles a little to the beat of Ken's oscillator. I don't even think he realizes he is doing it. He just tapped his fingers like a drum on the table. He seems so serious about his tasks, but throws in the rhythm, so I know he is in tune with Ken's machine. Matt is a very polite southern gentleman. He says "yes mam" to me. so I probably shouldn't be talking about him, though he would probably laugh with me.
My Uncle Stan and Aunt Leah say I have to be happy and joyful around Ken. That I need to praise God for the gift of him and turn his healing over to God. I am doing just that. I told Ken about the beautiful moon this morning when I was driving in. I told him what a good job he is doing and that we are fighting this together. I'm right here with him as I know you are too. I feel much better today. I hope Ken feels better too. It must be a relief not to fight with the machine as he was doing yesterday before the changed him to the oscillator.
The doc just came in and showed me his x-rays. They haven't changed. But placement of everything looks good, so now we just wait for Ken to heal. He said he would keep him on this oscillator at least thru the weekend. Then we'll see if he is ready to go back on the other one.
Hope you have a great day. Stay safe for the holiday. Happy New Year.
Bev