Nathan continues to make steady improvement in the PICU. His adema (swelling) has decreased quite a bit. His arms are skinny, his chest and abdomen are almost back to normal, and his legs are soft but chubby. His feet are still swollen and semi-firm, but we can see changes for the better. His urine output has been very good. He's excreting more than he is taking in through the IV, which means his body is passing the fluid in his "third space" efficiently.
Once they are able to get him off the ventilator, they will begin to ween him off sedatives. His body has built up a high tolerance to the drugs (morphine, ativan and methodone). I'm not sure how you manage to control a 2-year old in bed that's been asleep for 2 weeks, but the hospital must have experience with this. It's a little tougher with Nathan because he was on the sedatives a week longer than usual.
They started treating him every few hours for mucus accumulation in his lungs. The treatment is the use of a massager-like device that "thumps" his back in rapid succession. He doesn't hide his displeasure for the shaking, but he really needs it. I had my hands full keeping him occupied. Even with his eyes shut, his legs and arms were moving around a lot grabbing at the equipment hooked up to him. I'm sure he'll be fine, but it's unnerving. Considering where we all were a week ago, this is a good problem to have.
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