Update on Kent #4

I just finished speaking with his primary day nurse, who gave me a good summary of his condition. Currently, the most urgent issue is the lung infection and the resultant fever. Based on early images of his lungs, they are convinced that he had community-acquired pneumonia when he was admitted into the emergency room on Saturday morning. If not for the accident, the infection probably would have been killed off by the body's endogenous defenses, but the trauma to his body has given this infection the opportunity to flourish. The good news is that the infection hasn't spread to other parts of his body yet. They are treating it with two different antibiotics, and they are hopeful that it will be eradicated within the next two days.

They recently discovered two blood clots in his lungs. This isn't too much of a problem (according to the nurse), but it does explain the recent setbacks in his breathing. They are treating the clots (in his lungs, as well as some in his arm) with a blood-thinner.

On the bright side, the medical team has been giving him much more appropriate levels of pain medication. This brings his heart rate down and allows him to sleep a little.

With regards to his breathing, there are two crucial numbers with which we have become well-acquainted. First, there is the PEEP. It stands for Positive End-Expiratory Pressure, and it is indicative of the amount of pressure that the respirator maintains in his airway after he exhales. This positive pressure keeps the alveoli open and prevents the lungs from collapsing. Currently, his PEEP reading is 14.0, which is the highest that it has been, and this is primarily to address the clotting in his lung.

Another important number is the oxygen content of the air being pumped into him by the ventilator. This number is an indirect measure of the efficiency of his breathing. The air that we normally breathe has an oxygen content of roughly 21%, but the oxygen content of the air Dad is breathing has been as high as 70%. Right now he's at 40%, which is very good, given his current situation.

His temperature is currently 38.5 Celsius, which is 101.3 Farenheit. This is down from his temperature last night, which was 39.5 C (or 103.1 F).

His heart rate is 126. I can see his chest pounding through his hospital gown. In spite of this, he is sleeping peacefully now. Occasionally, he'll raise his eyebrows as if he just heard some surprising bit of news, or he'll start to lift his hand like he wants to scratch an itch, but his arm only gets so far before it falls back down to the bed. I miss him and I want him to wake up.