After the wonderful report from two days ago it seems as if Dad has had a bit of a slow-down in his progress. Yesterday morning when we walked in to see him, Mom and I noticed right away that he looked tired. When we asked the nurse about his condition she said that he only slept for 2 hours during the night and that his blood oxygen level was a little low. She also said that he needed to go back on the ventilator! My heart dropped. Then later that day we heard from Dr. Stern’s covering physician, Dr. Krige (pronounced Kreeger). He said that Dad seems to have developed a small infection in his lower left lung and that he will begin treating him with antibiotics. He went on to say that this will probably clear up in a few days and that it is perfectly normal. He said many Guillian-Barre Syndrome patients have 2-4 attempts before they are completely weaned from the ventilator and that we should not be alarmed. He also said that as soon as he feels Dad is able, he will take him off the ventilator and put him on the oxygen again. He too was a very friendly Dr. who took time to answer all of our questions.
Today when we saw Dad he seemed well rested. He slept well throughout the night with the assistance of the ventilator and he was very upbeat. The nurse told us that the Dr. gave orders to put him back on the ventilator for a few hours during the day which she did. He was off the ventilator for 6 hours today and he managed pretty well. He complained of course, but the nurse told us that they have to push him, if they don’t his lungs will never develop. When we left him tonight he was back on the ventilator and resting. So, what shall we say about all of this? “I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.” Psalms 71:14
