Big Boy Bed and Stable Condition

Hi everyone,
Overall, we had a successful Wednesday in the ICU. We are still in TICU Room 4A.

We started Tues night with a new bed, so Eric's feet no longer hang off the end. :) Our excellent night nurse found this longer bed that also rotates his upper body to move the fluid in his lungs around. This has made Eric much more comfortable.

We continued to fiddle with the breathing tube during the early Wed morning hours, finally changing the tube for the 2nd time. This 3rd tube is longer, has a larger diameter, and is working well. They are just not use to someone of Eric's height. A normal size tube didn't work for him. So...some early morning hours of frustration and anxiety on our part, because we were fighting the equipment not the actual lack of oxygen. In the end, this 3rd tube has resolved the equipment issues.

Eric continued to receive sedation meds, pain meds, plasma, and platelets throughout the day. He is also on Insulin to counteract the sugar in the meds. Eric continues to get multiple X-rays daily to check the fluid in his lungs. It's funny, they have a portable X-ray machine that rolls into the room. They have to take two X-rays, because the usual one picture can't capture the entire length of his lungs. In general Eric was very relaxed all day enabling Melissa to take a short nap in the afternoon.

Eric received his 2nd chemo treatment around 1pm. He is taking the chemo treatments very well, having zero negative reactions/symptoms to the treatment. This is a real benefit of being heavily sedated.

Eric started a feeding tube around 3pm, the first food since Sunday. Also we were able to bump down the % of oxygen being feed into the breathing tube from 100 to 70 to 50%. This is good news, meaning Eric is able to breath in more oxygen on his own. We need to be able to get down to 30% oxygen feed before the breathing tube can be removed.

Around 5pm, Eric's hematology doctor (who we really like) added an additional drug to help blood clot in the digestive tract. All the breathing tube issues caused bleeding that the doctor was concerned about. The doctor informed us that Eric's white blood cells (or leukemic cells) are down from 80,000 to 50,000. This is great news!!! We want to be around 5,000. The doctor also called Eric stable, which we were excited to hear.

Melissa is getting a much needed good night sleep on Wed night. I am so grateful to have such a loving, dedicated, strong sister-in-law; who has weathered this with grace, intelligence, and very very little sleep. Melissa is amazing. Eric is so lucky to have her. Thank you for all the emails, phone calls, and support. It is so wonderful to have great friends and family.

Love,
Sara [Eric's older and wiser (or so I keep telling him) sister]