Simon is still being kept sedated and on a ventilator. His responses to commands are still about the same. A problem he has been having is that anytime he starts to awaken a little from his sedation, his blood pressure shoots up tremendously (yesterday his systolic hit 303!!). That makes it hard to lighten his degree of sedation to assess his neurologic status or consider weaning him off the ventilator. So today he is going to be started on a new sedative, Precedex, which I just realized is dexmedetomidine - a drug that we veterinarians are VERY familiar with!!! Hopefully it will help Simon stay calm but allow him to awaken slightly without too much hypertension. IF it does (and I'm not counting on ANYTHING, at this point!!), then perhaps they can try to wean him off the ventilator again sooner rather than later . . .
The doctors and nurses here have been just fantastic. Medical Center of the Rockies is a "level 2 trauma center", which means they handle all the most critical cases from around our area. But what really impresses me is how much of a team effort they make - for instance, every morning they do rounds here in the surgical intensive care unit, and a group of about a dozen doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, etc., all come together and discuss the cases. I get to stay in the room and listen in, and this morning they even asked me about dexmedetomidine, since we vets use it a lot. The nurses in particular are just wonderful - so compassionate, so competent, and so good at answering my questions and including me in Simon's care. (Seems there are a lot of MEN who are intensive care nurses, and one of them said it's because males are drawn to the stress and excitement of emergency and critical care!)
As of this morning, we have heard from nearly 190 individuals around the world, and it is wonderful to see how many people care about Simon and have been impacted by him. The ones that get to me the most are the testamonials from former students who say, "I wouldn't be where I am today, if it hadn't been for Dr. T." There are a LOT of those!
It is still to early for visitors or flowers, but thanks again for all your messages - they are really helping me, and I know Simon will eventually appreciate them, too!!
Ann
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Simon and Anne
ReplyDeleteJust heard about the accident, what a shock. Bikes are great until you fall off. Hope Simon continues to improve. We are thinking of you and are disappointed that the usual Australian April sojourn looks unlikely this year.
John and Robbie