The Weaning Process

I have been remiss in my blogging duties of late, so let me catch you up with events since late Thursday when I last posted.

Thursday, the scheduled six hour breathing test went well and was extended to nine hours.  The standardized plan of going 6, 12 and 24 hours is being put to the side in favor of having Shirley go as far as she can each day without being overly fatigued.  The goal will be to increase the duration daily, but not go so far as to cause her to fall back the next day.

Friday, the breathing test went eleven hours.  Shirley was hoping to get to 12, but she was showing the signs of fatigue (oxygen concentration drops, respiration rate increases but breaths become shallower, so that the volume per minute is actually less).

Also on Friday, she had a CT scan of her back to see if they could see the issue causing her pain.  We knew from time at the UW that there is a compression fracture of the L4 vertebrae, but is this the same issue of some thing new?  I haven't heard the results of the scan yet, but they have prescribed a lidocaine patch to provide some localized relief and have scaled back on her physical therapy to avoid further damage.

Saturday, she completed twelve hours on the SBT test and is now about four hours into today's trial.  Each day, a little progress towards the goal of getting completely off the ventilator.