Saturday, January 17, 2009

9:30PM Stephen had a restful day today. He is still under sedation. We have decided to move forward with doing a tracheostomy (same as tracheotomy) as this will be helpful to manage Stephen's breathing, it will help with his long term care, and it will allow the doctors to remove the breathing tube that is uncomfortable and puts Stephen at a higher risk. Unfortunately, because it is a holiday weekend, it will be at least Tuesday or Wednesday before we can do this. This procedure has it's own risks and it requires maintenance to make sure it stays clean. If Stephen has to stay on a ventilator for certain periods of time, it can be done through the trach. It is just the best thing for him right now. Please pray that once he recovers from this that there won't be any complications related to this procedure including not being able to eat or talk. Most patients are able to do these things after the procedure. Stephen's fever has gone down. They did have trouble with his bottom number on blood pressure a little while ago, but they adjusted his medicine and it is back up. He now has an air bed to help with the sores and to keep him comfortable while in bed. We saw him in the new bed and it looks like he is resting really well.