Another Day!

Day 23 in New Jersey and day 10 in this ICU, but it seems like I have been here for three months! When I arrived back in the ICU this morning I found out two patients had died. Ugh, I called both patients families and told them how sorry I was for their loss. They told me they appreciated my call. I guess that's all I can do. Doesn't feel like enough. The other man I had extubated Thursday and reintubated Friday, remains critically ill requiring high concentrations of oxygen. I hope he will rebound.

On a brighter note, a woman I told you about a few days ago who was not awakening is now starting to show signs of consciousness. On Friday, she had begun to spontaneously open her eyes. I had spoken to her daughter and son-in-law about this improvement before I left on Friday night. Today when I returned to the ICU, she was not only opening her eyes, but also turning her head to our voices. Her family FaceTimed with her and she seemed much more aware of her surroundings. Last week I had thought it was unlikely she would awaken, she had been off all sedation medications for over a week and until Friday had not shown any signs of awakening. Today, before leaving I spoke with her family about the fairly dramatic improvement. They asked me when I thought she might be ready to get off the ventilator. I told them we had been allowing her to breathe on her own for periods of time to strengthen her respiratory muscles and if she didn't have any set backs and continued this type of improvement, maybe Wednesday at the earliest. But, we would evaluate it a day at a time. They then wanted to know my work schedule and I told them I would be working everyday except Tuesday until I flew home next Sunday. They didn't realize I was a visiting doctor from Nevada. I told them I hoped I would be here to see her get off the ventilator. Her son-in-law said, " You are not allowed to leave New Jersey until our mother is off the ventilator". I said, " Well, you'll have to talk to my husband about that". He said, "give me his number". We laughed. I hope this family and I will celebrate together via FaceTime before I leave. That's all for now.