Uneventful day yesterday, but another Faith & Daddy night and busy day!

I will avoid the details as best I can and try to summarize.

• Lots of oxygen in but not so much was absorbed. In order to keep her at 90% blood O2 levels they needed to put the ventilator at 100% O2. Way too high to maintain.
• To add to the tension in the room her blood pressure also began to drop once again.
• The basic problem is this, too much fluid (edema) in the lungs makes it difficult to properly process oxygen. Taking too much fluid out of her (via urine and lasix) reduces her vascular volume and therefore blood pressure.
• We need both A) reduce edema in lungs B) keep blood pressure C) keep her sedated which also lowers her blood pressure. The compromise right now is to use a vasopressor (Dopamine) it helps give her vascular system a squeeze which raises blood pressure without adding fluids.
• To help keep the lungs clear they use chest PT  she also has a new bed that can perform percussion to also help keep the junk in her lungs moving and ready to be suctioned out. This is in addition to the therapy performed by her nurse and respiratory therapists.
  

  Those two roads rarely meet!

• Faith also had a PICC line placed today that will be used for IV access in and out of the hospital for long-term antibiotic therapy and whatever else will come along.
• Sedation also went up today as her emotional state affects her cooperation with the ventilator and don’t you know “little Sue” is holding her breath and biting the tube feeding her air as a show of her displeasure at times.

Every day, I need you Lord, but today especially I need some extra strength to face whatever is to come. This day, more than any other day, I need to feel you near me to strengthen my courage and to overcome my fear. By myself I cannot meet the challenge of the hour. We are frail human creatures and we need a Higher Power to sustain us in all that life may bring. And so dear Lord, hold my trembling hand. Be with me Lord, this day and stretch out your powerful arm to help me. May your love be upon me as I place all my hope in you. Amen

— Pope John XXIII