Small Changes and a Little Improvement

Upon arrival to our visit with Luke on Monday, he was G R U M P Y. "Auntie Rhoda" (his main nurse) had him on his stomach, which he usually likes, but we're guessing since he couldn't wave his hands around like he normally does because of the I.V. holders on his arms, he wasn't having it today. You could definitely tell he was crying by his little scrunched up red face, but it's still one you can't hear. It was hard to watch, but since his heart rate and "sat" levels were good we know he wasn't in pain, just cranky. He was also back on the oscillator, which to correct an earlier blog post is actually the vent he was originally on a few weeks ago that does the vibration and 600 little quick breaths per minute. They explained that what they found is that they believe there is/was a small blockage in the lower part of the main bronchial tube in his right lung that was not allowing air to fully inflate that lung and hurting the left lung as well because it was causing it to get hyper-inflated. By putting him back on the oscillator they hoped to alleviate the blockage and allow both lungs to inflate normally. Once this works, the left lung can begin to heal, which will take a few weeks or so.
The good news was that by putting him back on the oscillator, it greatly improved his blood gases (the CO2 level in his blood mostly) which were very high. As of around 11pm Monday night, his last 3 blood gas tests looked really good. They also said that they can keep him on the oscillator as they try to work him off of the machines and not necessarily have to put him back on the other vent first.
Our daily visit ended much better than it started. Rhoda put him back on his right side and he seemed to be much more comfortable and was immediately waving his hands around again. Shortly before we left, Stacy reached in to give him a little touch goodbye and she had a very heart warming moment as he grabbed a hold of her pinky finger and held on tightly. One of the little moments that help get us through the tough days.