Moving along

My sister and her family left this evening and I went to the hospital by myself after that. When I got there, there were tons of doctors, nurses, and the RT standing around Lawson's bed. Apparently, he had been switched to the conventional ventilator and wasn't happy about it. His heart rate had skyrocketed and his oxygenation was down. By the time I got there, they had gotten him settled down by adjusting his ventilator settings and giving him more medicine. While I was there, his stats were pretty stable with a few ups and downs, but he did cry quite a bit. I was able to settle him down by giving him his pacifier. The video clip shows him sucking on his pacifier while holding onto my hand. His nurse said that he may be crying because the conventional ventilator gives him breaths in a different way. While the jet ventilator vibrates the air into the airways, the conventional ventilator forces air into his lungs. She said this could possibly be painful since he had stitches throughout the remaining part of his left lung. I asked why they couldn't just take him off the ventilator all together to prevent this. She said they have to make sure he's ready first and they will be giving him pain medication to ensure his comfort in the interim. She said if he does OK tonight, they will be extubating him tomorrow. Pray for his comfort and success tonight! We'll keep you posted!