Day T + 34 and counting

Day 3 in the ICU.   Boone is now down to about 118 pounds.

As it turned out the Lung draining happened yesterday.  A very nice Dr. B allowed me to stay in the room to watch the procedure .   If you've never seen it done,  the Dr. comes in and sets up his sterile work surfaces.  Then he listens to the lungs very carefully from the back.  From this listening he determined where to insert the drainage tubes ; one for each lung.  He marks the spots with a marker pen.  Then the back is scrubbed with an antiseptic and  protective "sheets" with 4"diameter holes are are sticky backed to the patient's back.  The holes of course are positioned over the incision points.  The Dr. then injects a local anesthetic , then takes an exacto  knife and cuts a tiny slice through the skin.   A long thin needle with a tube over it is inserted into each lung sack.  They pull out a sample from each side, roughly a pint each, then hook him to the suction machine.  In Boone's  case they drained off at least 2 liters of fluid.   Once the draining is complete, they just pull out the tubes, and put a bandage on the slits.  Almost no pain.

Afterwards they X ray 'd  his chest here in the room.  I can tell that the bottom pert of his left lung has collapsed.

Today,  when I arrived he was unwillingly siting up in the chair.  The nurse said he'd been sitting up for about 10 minutes.  He said he had been up for 2 hours.   Dr. F ordered a feeding tube yesterday because at best Boone has been taking in only about 300 calories a day.  His ICU nurse and several nurses in training came in to insert the tube.  I was asked to leave.  Fortunately or unfortunately depending I guess on your attitude, the nursing instructor was standing in the hallway.  I told her everything I could think of that I could gripe about.   She listened politely.   I hope it does some good.  Although the nurses in the ICU are good, they don't know much about BMT patients.  They don't scrub the hub the way they insist on it being done in the BMT ward.

The X-ray techs came in to verify the placement of the feeding tube. It had gotten turned and was pointing up instead of down into the stomach.  They  had to take out the first one and redo it.  This time I was not asked to leave.  I don't see how anyone could tolerate having a hose shoved down their nose, then have to swallow several times so the tube can be snaked into place.   Boone looked like it really hurt, but maybe it was just a reflex,   There was only minor screaming.   We are now waiting for the X-ray techs to come back.

The BMT LPN came by and said they are hoping they can get a room on the ward ready for him around supper time.

In the mean time, I got him to drink his Ensure, a half bottle of apple juice and about 3 bites of some banana pudding.

Boone is back in his bed with the heat turned up on high, and several layers of blankets. He is sleeping soundly.  The best news is, while they were putting in the feeding tube, they had to remove his O2.   On room air he held his oxygen levels in the high 90s !