fever

Saturday for most of the day they had Sandra weaning at pressure support of 4 but were again struggling with high heart rate.  It was in the upper 130's when Eunhae and I visited that morning.  I again pointed out that she gets that problem when she's too dry (more so than most people, I'm told) to make sure everyone working with her at the moment was aware of that.  The RT also said that the bronchial mist that she's getting can cause increased HR as well, which can make it a balancing act between keeping her lungs in good enough shape to wean and also keeping her HR low enough.  In any case that night she got hit with a fever of 102.  At some point that night or the next morning her heart rate was really high, like 150.  They gave her a pretty large amount of fluids (infection can dehydrate you - or she might have been a little dry already, or both) and she slowed down to 120 or so by mid morning.  Sunday night she spiked a fever again of almost 103.  They did all the cultures and put her on 2 additional antibiotics (I'm not sure when).  When I saw her this morning she was cool and looked comfortable and normal with a HR of 107 or so.  So it seems that either the fevers were "drug induced" and went away on their own, which I think was true of the fever she had early last week, or she has an infection and one of the antibiotics knocked it down.  Since it was 2 nights in a row and she was struggling with hight HR (from the onset of infection?) I'm thinking maybe it's an infection.  We should know for sure when the results of the cultures come in, probably sometime tomorrow.  They have also increased her sedation even further to 25 (ml/hr?) of midazolam, where it was 20 before.  I'm not sure why.  Needless to say no weaning yesterday or today.  -Willem

Comments

[Heidi Weathers]

Thanks for keeping us updated on her progress. Thinking of you and Sandra every single day and just hoping that all these fevers and infections subside.

[RuthAnn Simpson]

we were so sorry to hear about Sandra, Willem. I haven't seen you since Trevor & Karissa's going away party, but you know, some things never change.I have nothing but fond memories of that spunky girl, with the top of my list being a memorable spider incident:) She made you laugh out loud, and made you want to do so oftenly. The world will be darker without her light. I wish we would have heard before Sunday, for we would certainly have come to pay our respects & hug the hell out of you. If you need anything at all, we are here for you & your family.
Ty & RuthAnn Simpson