Sandra was at pressure support of 0 today, but didn't do terribly well. The nurse said that her oxygen levels were fine but that she was building up too much CO2. They needed her to breathe more deeply too blow it out and they think she's too heavily sedated. So they had to put her back on rest (full pressure support) for some amount of time while they reduced her sedation. She has been at around 26 for versed and they dropped her to 15 as well as cuttiing in half her 6:00 methadone dose. I talked to the nurse around 5:30 and she was weaning at pressure support of 0 at that time. She said it takes some time for the sedation to wear off and it sounds like they were just watching her closely and trying to keep an eye on the CO2 levels. I don't know the exact details beyond that.
Well - things are happening! In the past Dr. Clark talked about her becoming too anxious with her heart rate going way up when they reduced her sedation so we'll have to see how this goes. If it work's its pretty exciting. Not only would it hopefully mean that she is more likely to continue to make progress but the idea that she might be more awake more often is exciting as well. Then again it seems that every time things look hopeful there is a setback, so we'll just have to hope for the best. -Willem
It's baby steps, but they are positive steps! Keeping you in prayer Willem.
Posted by: Sandy Riggers | 10/28/2009 at 09:01 AM