As I write this blog, Shirley has now been off the ventilator for 30 hours. She continues to use what they call a "trach collar," which has an oxygen mask loosely sitting over the trachea tube opening with a 30% oxygen mix blowing by. They are now beginning to talk about whether she needs the level of care provided by the ICU and it is likely that if she is able to stay off the vent again tonight that she will be transferred soon to a General Medical floor early in the week.
Her white blood cell count has continued to climb, but they conducted a CT scan of her abdomen today and found nothing to suggest an infection. They also did another culture for C DIFF, a bacterial infection, but it came back negative. The cause of the WBC rise is still a mystery with three theories in play: 1) a reaction to her tracheotomy; 2) a reaction to the removal of the inter-jugular catheter; 3) a possible small infection in her abdomen. It was suggested that since the C DIFF test came back negative that they my do a small tap into a pocket of fluid in her abdomen to test to make sure it isn't infected.
Shirley spent four hours this morning out of bed seated in a chair. I believe they will be doing another session in the chair this evening after she finishes dialysis.
They did spot a small clot forming near where the inter-jugular catheter was pulled. They have started her on an IV drip for Heparin to help dissolve it.
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