Saturday 6/26 - PEEP day

ICU Day #13 / Hospital Day #46

This morning I spent an hour or so with Kathleen. She still has the VRE so we must don our gloves and gown to enter her room. Her vent settings have changed for the better again. She is still at 35% oxygen ratio but her PEEP rate has come down to 10 (it had been in the high 20's). They are working on the PEEP rate today to see how well she can tolerate that change before they make other setting changes. Her frequency is at 26 (down from 40 last week). These are good signs that she will be able to breath again on her own. At best, 7-10 days away from that.

She is still on dialysis and is losing a lot of her previous swelling. There are still many hurdles to face. But she is heading is the right direction.

I turn on the Cardinal games for her when I am in the room---usually a replay of the previous days game. I also leave the evening nurses notes on the bulletin board when the game starts and which cable channel it's on so they don't have any reason NOT to turn the TV on for her.

Will post more when I visit her again tonight.