Today is our one step back day. Bill was very junky when I got here this morning and his sats were dropping into the 70s. So, they did a bronch about 8:30 this morning and got a bunch of mucus plugs out again. They were so thick, he just couldn't cough them up.

He stayed on the vent for about 30 minutes after, but is back on regular oxygen. They had turned it down to 40% last night and he was at 5 liters! That's a home level, although there is no way he's going home yet. But, now he's back to 70% and 15 liters.

He did have a hard time keeping his sats up, but they had to use a lot of sedation to even get him to go to sleep and he was fighting to stay awake. But now he's sleeping, even snoring a little and his numbers are perfect. It wouldn't have surprised me if they wanted to keep him on the vent all day, just to let him rest. So, we're trying to keep the room quiet, or as quiet as we can with the door open. They want it open to just peek at him periodically, but when the nurses get to talking, he wakes up. The TV is on but on mute, and not on something he likes to watch, so I'm hoping he'll stay asleep. He just roused up with hearing a little giggle, but he's going back out now.

Dr, Threlkeld was going to stop the antibiotics, but he thinks he'll leave them through the week-end since they had to bronch again. He doesn't want to overload him, but he also doesn't want to give anything a foothold again. It's a balancing act.

Yesterday his nurse asked if they had talked to us about long-term care and I told her they had not, but we were expecting it, or at least I am. I know I can't care for him like this. The nurse went on and on about the trach and suctioning and said that he's going to be on IV antibiotics until March (Dr. T doesn't think so and he's a straight shooter and wouldn't hold that back from me) and the feeding tube. She really made the situation seem dire. Now, I'm a realist and know that I can't care for him now, but I do believe that with rehab, even going home with the trach, he will come home eventually. After all we went through this last year when they didn't think he would survive the first 24 hours and never walk or eat again. And now they all just look at him say he's a tough guy and they don't know what he's going to do!

Speech came in a bit ago and she couldn't work with the speaking valve because of the way he gets his oxygen right now. And Tyler, the respiratory tech didn't want to chance putting him on the trach collar since he had such a difficult morning. But, he did get a few bites of ice chips so that she could check his swallow and she'll be back to keep working with him.

Travis the physical therapist said this morning in the hallway he was coming to see him, but that was before the bronch. He is probably going to check with him later this afternoon and at least have him do some exercises. Dr. El Hadad wants him to be up and walking and moving. He's even said to "hyper oxygenate" beforehand, which means max him out at 100% and as many liters as the gauge will go so that he doesn't de-sat when he stands. So, we'll see what happens this afternoon.

So, there you have it, our day so far. He's just had a nice bath and is now watching about gold mining. I may or may not post again today, just have to see how the rest of the day goes.