Sandra is doing amazingly well. She was at pressure support of 6 yesterday and did great all day so day they skipped forward to 2 this morning. When I talked to the nurse this afternoon she was still doing awesome with no changes in the other numbers - heart rate still under 80, which I can hardly believe, low peak airway pressures etc. So she's in some kind of zone or in some sweet spot. Whatever it is, we can only hope it keeps up.
I talked to Karen from infectious disease the other day. She doesn't believe Sandra had a staph infection. She thinks that was a false positive due to contamination (one blood sample had it and the other did not). She still doesn't know what it was as nothing new came up and her white blood cell count barely rose. It was a little over 8 around the time of the fever, I think she said, and then came down again to something like 6. She said Sandra reacts differently than any other patient in the hospital in certain situations. She's a bit of a mystery, she said. But obviously bounces back from these episodes really well, so that's good. What's not good in my mind is that she got a fever a week ago Monday and then again this past weekend - both pretty much unexplained. She's doing so well now but if she keeps getting them once a week and they keep setting the weaning schedule back by a week then we'd never get there from here. All I can do is hope she can go another week or 2 without setback. At least in her current seemingly awesome condition it feels to me like that's all she needs. But we're heading into uncharted territory so who knows how she'll do. Sure looks good right now though. -Willem
Hey, thanks so much for keeping us updated. Whenever we get internet down here in Panama, we always check this blog right away. Great news today!
Posted by: Trevor, Karisa & Kiera | 10/25/2009 at 04:48 AM
Very good day!
Posted by: Arie | 10/25/2009 at 09:43 AM
What WONDERFUL news! May Sandra's progress continue!
Hang in there, Willem!
Posted by: Jill Johnston | 10/25/2009 at 01:56 PM
Good news! Thanks Will!
Posted by: Victoria England | 10/26/2009 at 09:03 AM
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Yes.
Posted by: Amanda | 10/26/2009 at 10:28 AM