Extubation grade: F

I didn't get to the hospital until a little after 10pm last night to relieve mom. Dad had a fairly quiet night, nothing out of the ordinary. The nurses & techs turn & check. He spiked a fever of about 101º last evening so they had ice packs on him. They don't know the cause of the fever, but don't suspect pneumonia since his lungs sound good. They had ice-pack around him and under his neck. Ex-ray was in at 6am and they had a team in for blood draw :) They have a hard time drawing blood even out of his pic line. One tech was checking out his feet for a spot...OUCH, but then the other tech found a good draw on his left hand between his thumb and index finger.

Dr. Koets was in with an associate, along with the respiratory tech. After Mom arrived they extubated(took the breathing tube out). Unfortunately, Dad struggled and gasped for breaths and could not get his breaths under control by himself. They re-intubated and ordered a trach, which a general surgeon will perform in his room. As Dr. Koets put it, "He flunked the test." :( His vocal chords are stressed and swollen from the irritation of the vent. They will better be able to allow him to wake up to get a better evaluation with the trach. It usually takes a couple of days after its ordered to get in place. The surgeon called and it will be done at 8am tomorrow! Nurse Val was astonished at how quickly it will happen. When I left he was not as warm and his body was cooling down, although his face and neck were still warm to the touch. Mom is staying the night with him. I will try to update again tomorrow. They did an ultra sound of his legs to rule out blood clots and will perform a CT Scan of his head later today.

Courtney is riding along with me as I am driving Kelsey and Christopher to a Detroit Pistons/Miami Heat game at The Palace in Auburn Hills tonight. Dave said its way past his bedtime to be out...lol. He was willing to go along if Courtney didn't want to go. It wasn't the most opportune time but the doctors said Dad should rest quietly all night, so I feel a little reassured about being 2 1/2 hours away for the evening. A friend of Kelsey and Courtney's was able to get 2 front row tickets to the game...for FREE. It should be a good time for them. I will try to keep my patience under control. I will check in with Mom during the night.

In HIM above do we lay our trust. Before he went in for surgery, Dad said the good Lord laid out the game plan for him and he is willing to do the work to achieve the goal. He said he has come too far an d played the game too long to give up now. Pray for answers to the fever and that he will be able to wake up and control his breathing on his own.