Slow Your Roll!

Have I ever mentioned to anyone that I live with five incredibly stubborn men?  Well, if you didn't know.... consider yourself "in the know".

Over the past 3-4 days under the watchful eye of the medical team, Wynnie has done a great job of being weened down on many variables on his vent settings.  Last night after I left for home they performed another sprint on him (turning off all the vent settings and switching it over to cpap setting -- similiar to what Dori sleeps with at night) and Wynnie did not like it.  He was wide awake so he kept coughing and gagging on the vent tube and was fighting against the puffs of oxygen the cpap was giving him.  He was so ticked off about it that he d-satted down to the 20s and turned blue.  I'm so glad I didn't have to witness that again because the last time he took a nose-dive (Sunday of St Patricks Day) I was pretty shaken afterwards.  Normally I don't panic for stuff that actually matters but seeing him blue and seeing a ton of people all around his crib is NOT something I can handle well.

This morning during rounds the doctor told me that it's a very delicate balance of finding that "happy spot" between weening him down further at a pace that his body can withstand.  He had done so great these past few days that naturally everyone thought he was ready for the next step (remove the vent).  But as the doctor put it, he is doing things his own way and we just have to adjust the plan to where he is comfortable while still weening him toward the goal of vent removal.  So the plan over the next couple of days is to continue weening his settings down, increasing his sedatives so he doesn't go "Wynnie Smurf" on them, and continue doing "sprints" every four hours to work his lungs & the muscles he needs to breathe on his own due to increasing weakness from being on the vent.

The doctor said that if it weren't for the vent, he would not be here today.  But it comes to a point where the vent takes a toll on lungs and on the body which is why they want to move forward before he takes any more steps backwards.  So I suppose Wynnie's stubbornness is his way of telling us "SLOW YOUR ROLL PEOPLE!!! I GOT THIS!! Just lemme do it MY way."

Ok Wynnie... we hear you loud and clear.  Keep working hard buddy... we miss you!