Happy Boxing Day

Monday afternoon:

After being restless for almost an hour: pulling off his monitor stuff and oxygen, taking his blankets off, tossing around- his nurse came in and we packed him with ice to bring his fever down. I couldn't get more than a one word answer from him.

"Do you hurt?

"Yeah"

"Where do you hurt?"

No response

He has been talking a bit more the last few minutes, able to carry on a short conversation and listen a little better to commands to leave his monitors alone and the ice packs in their place.

Monday night:

Took us most of the day to get him settled- he was pretty restless and unresponsive for most of the day. Finally got his fever down a bit from packing him in ice packs and figured out where he was in pain so they got that under control and then he has been sleeping well the last couple hours. He will have an echo in the morning to make sure the MRSA/staph didn't damage his heart valves and then he will dialyze in his room. He's a bit more communicative now which is great. Fever has come down from 103 to 100.3 so that's great too. Doc had his norepinephrine turned up pretty high (it brings his BP up) but that comes with nasty side effects when it's that high for a while so they put an arterial line in his wrist to give them his BP in real time so they could give him some vasopressin to also bring up his BP, meaning they could turn down the norepinephrine and avoid some side effects. Glad they're using meds to help bring up his BP and not just pumping him full of fluid like they sometimes do.

Tuesday morning:

They say last night was pretty restless. They've been dializing since about 7am ish. They had a little trouble with his BP but that has been steady since about 9. His temp is 99, he has about 40 mins of dialysis left. Nephrologist came in about 15 mins ago and said they're trying to get enough fluid off him without taking his BP low. Said they won't do dialysis tomorrow unless his numbers after today's treatment still aren't good. If that's the case they'll do a long treatment tomorrow, about 6 hours and then they can pull fluid off slower and it's a bit better for your BP. He did tolerate them taking off 3 liters of fluid though, which is great. He was in some pain, lots of laying in bed and trying to get comfortable, so the nurse just gave him some more fentanyl so he's konked out. He's still pretty in and out but more coherent than yesterday so that's an improvement. He's having an echo done on his heart about 1. His brother Duke came down early this morning from Idaho to be with us in the hospital for a day so that's a nice boost for both of us.

Tuesday afternoon:

Just finished the echo, they said everything looks great, no heart valve damage or infection. He's still pretty out from the Versed they used during the procedure but he's resting comfortably.

Tuesday night: 

It was a restless day. He could never seem to find a comfortable position for longer than 5-10 minutes unless he had some pain medicine in his system knocking him out for a nap for an hour or so. All day we moved and repositioned and propped and changed position and more pillows and less pillows and sit up and sit down. It was pretty exhausting. I'm sure his nurse was worn out too. He is still pretty confused and will forget things we've told him just seconds after hearing them or say the same thing over and over even when we answer him. Physical Therapy did come in this afternoon and he did briefly stand with a great deal of assistance. He had a little bit of food, Jell-o and some grape juice, a sponge bath and bedding/gown change. They are turning down his doses of norepinephrine and Vassopressin (both for his blood pressure) and it's been staying up so that's good. His boss came for a short visit and I had a friend bring me some treats and chat for a few minutes. He is resting now and has been asleep pretty deep for an hour, so that's great.

He's had great nurses and Duke was a great help and comfort to both of us today, he helped with much of the repositioning and moving of Bryce around. He also gave a sweet blessing to Bryce before he left, reminding us both of the help we have from family and friends here and on the other side of the veil. I had a friend remind me of the same thing last night- that the veil is so thin. I have felt so calm and so comforted thru all of this from the prayers of everyone and also because I know my Mom is with me. She is the most calm, steady person I have ever known and I feel her presence with us, helping me be calm when reason says I should be a mess. We are so so blessed and so thankful for our burdens that refine and strengthen us, and give us the traction we need to move forward.