Massimo had a settled night last night and had been fairly stable, however at Doctor’s rounds this morning they were still unhappy about the amount of carbon dioxide that he seemed to be accumulating and therefore decided to change his trachy tube for one of the original (stronger) type but one size up. Additionally, his nurse had had difficulty suctioning his tube, and felt that it was blocking – a further reason for the change. Things immediately improved and he has been much better since.
It had also been decided at Doctors rounds that they would catheterise him to ease maintaining his fluid balance, and also put in an arterial line to ease regular taking of blood to keep an eye on his carbon dioxide levels. As things were looking so much better this afternoon, both these uncomfortable procedures have been postponed and will only be contemplated again if things start looking worse again.
Both Justin and I are very happy with this turn of events but of all of us I think Massimo is the most relieved – he hasn’t breathed this easily for quite a while!