01 Oct Update
Good evening everyone!
Today was a good day overall. We didn’t make as much progress as we would have hoped but we didn’t take any steps back either. The hope from yesterday was that we would be able to extebate Keegan by mid to late morning today and he would be breathing on his own. In order to come that far we would first make sure this Keegan’s stomach was empty and we would also need to make sure he was very awake. The awake part is a little more tricky then just awake. First they wean off the ventilator and allow Keegan to breathe on his own. If his respiratory rate falls for any reason then the machine would give him a few breaths and allow him to continue. For him to be able to continue to breathe at the correct rate Keegan would need to be taken off the pain and sedation medicine. He had recently gone on methadone and Valium. Apparently it takes a while to get methadone out of your system and that is what might have slowed us down today. Keegan was just absolutely wiped out today. He was so relaxed that the doctors were not seeing the sustained pulmonary function that they were looking for. The plan is to take him off the ventilator soon but they need him to wake up a little first.
In other news, when I made it to the hospital this morning, Maddie was holding Keegan again. That never gets old. Tonight Jerry has the watch… and by watch I mean they are probably watching Sunday night football together. Also, There is some other good news. Children’s Medical Center preformed their 100th heart transplant on a 13 year old boy today. It was all very exciting for the family. The boy had been waiting for a heart since August. The family was from Odessa. The Mother and son were on the 8th floor the entire time waiting while the father stayed home with their two other children. Before we left to come home tonight it sounded like the surgery was over and everything went well. I heard a rumor that they were being spotlighted tonight on the CBS 11 news.
Everyone have a great day and we will be in touch with you all tomorrow.
Gray