The anesthesiologist this morning shared with me that Donald has officially cleared the BIGGEST hump post op, which was Sunday and Sunday night timeframe. We are still in a critical timeframe but…we just continue to take a step at a time and keep him going the right direction. As expected, his kidneys are now very very angry. Temporary dialysis started at 4pm on Sunday. Donald returned from surgery around 11ish where they closed his fascia and repaired his hernia. He came back up still vented, which I expected, per the anesthesiologist this morning. Because his kidneys are stressed, one benefit of keeping him on the vent for a bit longer is, of course helping his body to rest, BUT the medication that is given while on the ventilator actually HELPS the kidneys as well. I got a little lost with specifics of that conversation,I just know it helps his overall blood pressure which in turn helps his kidneys, as well as lungs and heart overall. The nurse just paused his blood pressure medicine to see what it does in hopes to stop that all together (this is a good sign). He is off 2 out of 3 antibiotics now (only taking one).
The next plan is to pause the sedation meds to wake him up and try the process of extubating him (removing vent). The process for that is: they pause the sedation meds and wake him up. He will need to follow some commands, while staying calm with no spikes in B/P and take some practice breaths. If he achieves all that and can control his own airway, after a few trial runs they will remove the tube. Hands down…it is HARD watching him get agitated on this vent. Anyone who has ever witnessed this knows exactly what I’m talking about. And it SUCKS!!!!! It’s all part of it…keeping our eye on the prize and I know for a FACT he will do whatever he has to do to get through this part! Big day. That’s probably all I will update today. It’s been a busy day with lots of small but mighty successes!! ????
Specific prayers…
—Pray for A SUCCESSFUL EXTUBATION
—Pray for Continued decrease in bleeding…increase in clotting (they are still giving him blood products to clot until the new liver kicks in)
—pray for his kidneys to hold strong and produce urine!!