I just talked to the team of doctors/P.A.s overseeing Ryan's care here. They are being very proactive about getting a decent MRI, so they will be giving him a drug to paralyze him and sedate him for this next one to ensure a good, clear picture. Because he'll be so heavily drugged, they will also have to put him back on a ventilator for the MRI.
Ryan has been sleeping/out of it for most of the day. They moved him to a reclining chair for a little bit, just for a change, and we watched "What About Bob" (well, I watched it, while he dozed and occasionally mouthed the words of the movie or smiled at the funny parts).
His platelet levels are still high, but they are going down. And since they were not high when he first got to the hospital, they are no longer concerned about leukemia. They have him on a couple of medications to help prevent any clotting, and hopefully things will resolve themselves in the next few days.
A little bit ago Ryan woke up enough to try talking to me. I couldn't read his lips (again...😓), so I asked if he wanted to try his speaking valve again, and he nodded his head pretty vigorously. When the respiratory therapist came in and switched out his trach valve, he was able to get a little bit of noise (almost like a hum) out of his vocal cords, but his stats started dropping pretty quickly. The therapist explained that the trach he currently has in, while smaller than the first one, is still too big for him to get much air out around it. And since they're planning on putting him on the ventilator for his MRI, they need to keep this size of trach in for that. But after his MRI is done, they should be able to put in a smaller trach for Ryan and try his speaking valve again.
It seems like almost every time his therapists come in to work with him, he is too out of it to respond much, but we are working with him as much as we can when he is awake. Hopefully things will continue to improve!
We are very blessed!
No comments:
Post a Comment