Back in the ICU

Leo has been having a difficult time breathing over the weekend, likely because of all the fluid that he's been getting (medications, platelets and blood). He is really swollen, but the bigger concern is that there is fluid collecting around his lungs that is making it very difficult for him to breathe. Throughout the day yesterday, I was having conversations with a lot of doctors to make sure there were aware that Leo does not want to be intubated. They will all follow his wishes, but were very concerned because he was really struggling to breathe. they had also started him yesterday on low doses of Morphine to help with his breathing.



So around 9pm last night, he was struggling an extra amount to breathe and his heart rate was in overdrive. It seemed to me to be triggered by this nurse that was being kind of snippy with him (really...if you don't like people, you shouldn't be working in a job where you help people all day. But that's just my thought.), but they could not control his heart rate and his oxygen levels were dropping quick. It was very scary, because in a matter of seconds, there were 4 doctors, 4 nurses and a chaplain that had rushed into the room to get things under control. Given the do not intubate instructions from us, they tried a bi-pap machine on him instead, which is a machine that is used by those with sleep apnea to help them breathe. It's basically like an oxygen mask on steroids. It forces the oxygen into his lungs so that he doesn't have to work so hard physically to breathe. The mask got his breathing under control after a little while, but his heart rate was still quite high. They did an EKG of his heart, an x-ray of his lungs and a million other things to see what was going on. They admitted him into the ICU immediately and he is here now until his breathing is under better control. I'm still waiting for the doctors this morning to see what they've found over night. I will be sure to keep you posted as I learn more.