Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since we brought Lydia to the hospital expecting nothing more than a little overreaction or a little oxygen. I realized last night that we really haven’t seen Lydia in 3 weeks—she’s been unconscious almost the whole time. We miss her.
Today’s plan is to get her tracheostomy sometime today (she’s an add-on to a full surgical schedule), keep her sedated until then (now using propofol), continue i.v. nutrition, and continue antibiotics for probable bacterial (nosocomial Pseudomonas) pneumonia. The docs will keep an eye on her heart rate (~48) and blood pressure (~165/90 today), neither of which they completely understand, and investigate the hypertension with renal ultrasound and various lab chemistry studies. After surgery, they’ll stop the propofol, manage pain with Tylenol and continued opioids, and not worry if she’s a little too sedated for the next day or so. Then she’ll gradually wake up—without the hated tubes in her mouth—and we’ll see how she is doing.
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