It was a better day yesterday, although Bill still slept most of it. He would wake up for a few minutes and then go right back to sleep. He was switched from the SIMV setting on the vent, which breathes periodically for him to CPAP and did well. He did do a little coughing, which is harder to do on the vent and he was suctioned a little but not as much as Thursday.

He wasn't flushed like he had been, but that may have been from whatever they gave him to relax him. And I think that's why he was sleeping so much. Between that and his normal Seroquel he just had too much in his system and he just had to sleep it off.

I missed the lung nurse, and I got to the hospital at the usual time, despite the slick roads. It wasn't Stephanie but Shea. She was talking to Ciera the respiratory tech and then scurried off, came back, and scurried away again. So, she may have had another patient with more problems with Bill, but had seen him first. I saw Ashley, the infectious disease nurse as I was headed to lunch so we talked in the hall. She said some "rods" had grown on the gamma stain (and I have really no idea what that actually means) but it wasn't enough to re-start antibiotics. They would just continue to monitor him. I take it to mean that the pseudomonas tried to rear its ugly head, but didn't get full blown. I did notice that the color of the secretions in the collection jar has changed from yellow/brown to gray. I don't know if that's good or bad or makes no difference.

Cam from cardiology said he sounds as good as he ever does to him. His heart rate had come down and was 85 when I got there yesterday. It did fluctuate if they were doing something to him or he was doing something, but we all do that.

The plan today is to go back to trach collar if he did well in the night. I'm hoping that will be the case. Since it's Saturday there won't be any therapy but, depending on which respiratory tech he has, he may get to use the speaking valve some.

He grudgingly did a little OT. He pinned the clothespins and then took them off. His vent kept alarming and Ciera came in and I thought she was just silencing it. But, she switched him back to SIMV. She did that because his respirations had increased to above 50, so he was actually panting while he was working. He has a tendency to breathe very shallow anyway. But, he didn't even realize she had switched and she told me after the fact. She said that she would switch him back when he got back to 30 and she did, again not saying anything.

When PT came in, he didn't fight much on doing his leg exercises, since he could lay in bed and do them. I did notice something while he was doing them that concerns me some, but it could be just because he wasn't feeling good. He did much better with his left leg than his right leg, and his right leg is his stronger leg. Maybe by the time they got to the right leg he was just tiring too. I won't be able to tell anything until Monday. I've also noticed that he doesn't want to use his left hand at all, which is his weaker one, almost to the point that he has a hard time even moving the arm to get it out from under the blanket. Of course, part of that could be that the pulse ox monitor is on a left finger, and his IV was in his left hand/wrist. It was moved yesterday and is now kind of between his left thumb and forefinger. His nurse Tralena must be the "vein whisperer". She said she got a good vein and was excited that she could actually see the flush go through the catheter into the vein. She also made the comment that she was glad it was good because apparently she's going to be off and she knew that none of the other nurses would want to try to put another line in.

We got a surprise yesterday. Bill's son Joe and his wife and daughter stopped in for a visit. They were on their way back to Texas from Disney World. They also brought Christmas gifts. Tina quilts and I got a Christmas quilt and Bill got a flannel throw with the Marine Corps emblem and "Once a Marine, always a Marine". They are still at the hospital since I didn't have anything big enough with me to put them in. Bill didn't want his on the bed, he didn't want to get it messed up. K'zalee couldn't come in the room as they are restricting children under 12 so she and Tina stayed in the family room. But, Joe and I had a good visit. Bill slept through most of it and may not even remember that he was there. They also brought me lunch (and I had just gotten my lunch when they got there), so I had an Arby's roast beef sandwich for dinner. They also brought a couple of oranges and some cookies, so I was all set!

That's really about it. Whatever was going on with Bill seems to be resolving without any further meds. Hopefully when they make the switch back to trach collar he'll not have any problems. I looked at his tablet when I got there because there were some things added and then marked through. All I could make out was "jury duty". I don't know if he thought I was gone because of jury duty, or if he was dreaming that he had to leave for jury duty, or just what it meant. And since he was sleeping so much I couldn't ask him.

I hope everyone has a good week-end. Some of my friends have been affected by the Carolina tornadoes. I haven't seen anything on Facebook from one of them, but the others in the area have posted so they're OK. One doesn't have any power and there is no timeline for getting it back so I know they're going to be miserable. I hope other friends who have been affected are all safe and warm or comfortable. I'll see you tomorrow!