Wed. Night Update

Hello!

Sorry I didn't post this morning. I have been trying to get ready for our scaled back Christmas.

Overall we have had a good day. He is very tired and has slept most of the day. The white blood cell count is up just a little bit today. They are talking about doing another cat scan over the weekend. We have also been discussing what to do about the ventilator. He does not seem to be able to get off of it as fast as the doctors would like. They typically want people on the ventilator about 14 days unless it is a permanentt thing. Thankfully we are not looking at a permanent ventilator. The option they have presented to us is to do a temporary trach. This would allow the time needed for his muscles to build back up for breathing on his own. The surgeon explained to us that there is a lot of dead space that takes about 40% of the air your take in. This is the space from your mouth or nose to your lungs. The trach would block allow the air to be pulled in after the majority of the dead space. I want to stress that this is a temporary solution that will allow him to build the muscle again. The doctor that would do the surgery did a consult today and will potentially do the surgery on Friday. David explained what was happening to my dad. We are pretty sure he understands. He knows that we do research and ask lots of questions before we agree to anything. He knows that we will only do what is best for him. Our pray is that this procedure goes well and solves the problem it is suppose to. Our other pray is for his over all spirit. Please pray that he is able to be encouraged. Please remember my mother too. She is resting and eating. This is just been very hard for her too.

Here is a link to help you understand more about the trach

http://surgeryinfo.org/tracheostomy.html

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas. I should be able to post something in the morning.

Thanks for the prayers!!!