Bye-Bye Sedation!!!

That's right! We just talked to the critical care team of doctors, and they decided that since he's been initiating all of his breaths and needing very minimal support from the ventilator, they're going to start weening him off of the sedatives!!! They're going to go slowly (he's on three different sedatives right now) and monitor his oxygen to make sure he's still getting enough. They said that it varies from person to person on how quickly they become fully aware. Some people can take up to a few days. I'm just so happy that the end is in sight!!

He still has a fever of 102. They've been giving him antibiotics, and continue to monitor the cultures to see if they are making headway with that. They've narrowed it down to the PICC line being the culprit. (A PICC line is like a more permanent, bigger IV that goes in the arm.) If that specific bateria does not go away, they will take that line out and either put another one in at a different location, or go with a more central line. They also said that the pill that he's taking now, ATRA, can cause a fever, and the leukemia itself can cause fevers, so it may be a lot of things combined that is causing this.

All in all, the doctor said that he will probably feel "crummy" when he wakes up, but at least he's finally going to be awake!!!

Love,
Melissa

PS. His white blood cells are down to 1000, now.