Ups and downs

I think Dad looks a little better today. The swelling in his arms seems to have gone down a bit. His breathing is steadier and a bit slower paced. Today's nurse reported that he gets agitated when they mess with him. His breathing would speed up as did his heart. They had upped his oxygen back to 100%. She thought he might be in some pain. A little morphine every few hours has helped calm him down. Tonight's nurse said she would look at trying a reduction in the oxygen levels over night and see how that goes. While I was there, it seemed like his heart would occasionally speed up a bit to 130 beats per minute and then slow back down 115 or so. That is different, but I didn't see any other changes in breathing or noise or movement that went along with it.

Before I entered Dad's room tonight, I was getting ready to put on a gown and gloves tonight when the nurse told me that Dad was no longer in isolation. Whatever nasty bug they thought he might have apparently hasn't shown itself recently. I think about 1/3 of the ICU was under those isolation protocols. I'll count no sign of the nasty stuff as one step in the right direction.

-- Bob