ICU Day 3

I have no idea when the pulmonary doctors will take Andre off the ventilator. His arterial blood gas from this morning still showed elevated CO2 even though he is relaxed and fully sedated. The docs are thinking it might be due to having too much carbohydrates in his TPN (his "food" that goes directly into his bloodstream), or more likely due to Andre having significant alveolar dead space. Unfortunately, the people who can measure the latter only works on weekdays. As for the TPN issue, they want to increase what they started yesterday which is delivery the nutrients via the feeding tube . They first need to review what the GI docs have found last week in terms of his GVHD in the gut.

In the wee hours of the morning, Andre had an episode that the docs refer to as "ICU delirium". They gave him an extra dose of Haldol to relax him. What worries me about his current level of sedation is his lack of responsiveness to the folks in the room. As an example, he "woke up" half-an hour ago (1 PM) for about 10 minutes but I was not able to communicate with him. He just looked dazed and not there--it scared me to think that his mind isn't there. I want my old, feisty, middle finger-giving Andre back.