There is a new smell in the air...

So as Steve has already told everyone, PJ is out of the spinning bed HALLELUJAH! Just in the nick of time too, because he was getting FUUUNNNKKYY. I mean I know that he is in a coma, but man was he starting to smell. So now that they have him out of that bed, they can give him a bath a bit more often. Ok seriously, he had a good day today. He did not "desat" at all during the day. He is staying strong, and we just need to continue that. Last nights episodes were not that bad, but frustrating because it was a setback. His temperature has been mild to normal. When I left tonight it was at 99.9. Now that he is out of the space age spinning stinky bed from hell, they are beginning to lower the paralytic drug so he is moving. It is more like involuntary muscle movement like a slight raise of the eyebrows, or his head will shake a bit. It is neat to see him moving a bit, and it appears like he kind of responds to you when you talk to him.

They are still holding out hope that they won't have to do the tracheotomy. I think that it is silly, but when I talked to the doctor today he said that he wanted to wait to see if we need it. My take on that is either the doctor has some hope that he will be off of the vent by Thursday, or he is delaying this aimlessly. They have to take him off of the vent through the mouth by Thursday so they don't risk damage to his vocal cords. So why wouldn't they just do it now unless they thought there was still a chance that he could be off of the vent in time. Anyway, that is my editorial opinion, no other factual evidence will back that up.

His wounds looked great today. He has no bandages at all on his face anymore, and his ear looks outstanding. The nurse this evening also told me that his hands have healed completely. I don't know this physically to be true other than her telling me. I still have yet to see his hands without bandages on them. His hair is growing back nicely, you can see the area that was burned off, as it is shorter than his other hair. The skin is blending nicely and his eyebrows are back. He only has a few scabs here and there on his face that should heal with very little scarring. So as I told my mother tonight, he will be just as ugly as he was before, which is great.

As you can tell, things were good today. I only kid him because I love him, and if it were me in there he would be writing the same thing about me. For those that know PJ you know that he is a joker and a prankster and loves to give people crap. I can't wait to give him crap and tell him I love him and give him a great big hug when he wakes up.

That is all from San Diego, I will try to write more in the morning after I call and talk to the night nurse.

Take care and kiss your loved ones!

Chris

P.S Kayler, Katelyn, Curtis, and Diane I miss you all very much and I can't wait to see you. I love you guys!

PJ's New Address

Just in case there are new friends reading this, I wanted to give out our new address. It will be better to send cards and pictures for PJ's room here to the house and I can take them to him. Our new address is:
PJ Meyerpeter
c/o Steve
1313 24th Street
San Diego, CA 92102

Out of the Crazy Spinning bed

Hey everyone - I wanted to add a quick note. I am sure Chris will add a better note later. I had to leave him there to go back to work. PJ is out of the space bed - YIPPIE!!! Although he can go back in if things take a turn again. but for now he is in a real bed with sheets and everything!!! He was doing pretty good. he had great color in his face. I still marvel at how quick he is healing on the outside. He is looking more and more like pajamas everyday. It is those darn lungs that we need to get better. they got another good amount of stuff sucked out again today which is good. All of his stats seemed to be in the right direction. He was on 40% O2 when I left. His left ear is starting to look pretty good. I still have yet to see the back of his hands, but the upper arms are lookin pretty darn good. It was just so good to see him in a real bed again. lets just pray he has a couple good days again. Last nights episode wasn't a big hiccup but we need some smooth days/nights now.

A side note on PJ number 2 - he has had several operations that have completely cleaned away all of the dead skin and tissue. they will now start the graphs in ernest. they also have a plan to try to save his fingers - by graphing his hand to his body and letting the good skin grow around his hand with good strong tissue - absolutly amazing.

And good news for walter as well - when I walked by his room he was TALKING on the phone. they say he is going to be released from the ICU this weekend if not sooner. WAY TO GO WALT!!!!

Well look at that, how is that for a quick note - hahahaha
Have a great night everyone - steve

Brief Morning Update on 12/4

Talked to the night nurse and PJ did have a few episodes of desaturation last night. He told me that the doctors were doing their rounds and would determine what they would like to do with him in regards to the bed. According to the nurse, the episodes were brief where he went to 89 - 85% oxygen level. So I don't know what that exactly means.

That is all for now.

Chris

The captian has turned off the seatbelt sign...

Hello all, well I just got back from visiting PJ, and we are now eclipsing 48 hours of good oxygenation. All this means, is we haven't had a setback in a while, nothing more. So I have good news to report for the moment. As the title says, the captain has turned off the seatbelt sign for right now. We may have future turbulence, but for now PJ has had a good couple of days. The nurse told me that the infection is getting better, so the antibiotics seem to be working. PJ was at 40% oxygen this evening and oxygenating at 97 - 98 percent which is great. We can only hope to keep this going. They are removing him from the bed tomorrow. The doctor told me today that they will wait until Wednesday to determine if they need to put in a trach for PJ.

I was able to see him tonight with no bandages on his face, he looks great. His lips, eyes, ear and face is healing wonderfully. This is great news. So that is the goodness that is PJ land for right now. I hope everyone has a great night, and keep PJ in your thoughts and prayers for the evening.

Chris

The roller coaster ride continues...

Hello all, well I have good and bad news, so I will start with the good news.

I was able to talk to the Doctor today. He told me that his burns are healing exceptionally well. At this point, they are not thinking that he will need any skin grafts at all. I was able to see his left ear today for the first time. It looked really good. His fever has been non existent today and when I left his temperature was still normal. He has had a very good day today, much better than yesterday. When I left this afternoon, after he was turned, he was holding strong with good oxygenation and the oxygen levels at 50% on the vent. We need many more of these good days, but it is all up to PJ right now. I was also able to see him move a bit. It turns out that they were lowering the paralyzing medicine to ensure that his body doesn't get too used to it. So I saw his head, lips and shoulders moving. At first I was a bit freaked out, but once they explained what was going on it made much more sense. And as anyone that knows PJ would expect, as soon as they let him do that he tried to take over completely and was overbreathing, so they had to give him more medicine for his own good.

The Bad news

He is still on the bed and his lungs are still producing a lot of "crud". They are bronching him everyday, and are taking chest X-Rays everyday to see how things are going. There is no other course of action according to the doctor. It is a waiting game, but the only therapy is what they are doing for him currently. It is a matter of him having several good days in a row. They will most likely make the decision on the Tracheotomy on Monday, and at this point I think it is the right thing to do for him. He has been on the ventilator for 16 days now, and they say that the longer you are on it can be damaging to the vocal cords. They most likely will take him off the bed on Tuesday at the latest, just to give him a break from the bed. He sustained the most internal injury of all the patiients it appears. He is a fighter, and I know that he is fighting. We would all like it to go quicker, but that is not happening at the rate we would like it.

That is what I know, so you know what I know. I am anxiously awaiting the time that I am able to give him crap about all of this, but for now I will continue to pray as I hope you all will as well.

Thanks for all the support, it has been tremendous.

Chris

Friday, December 1, 2006

PJ Land is never boring....

As Chris said earlier Peej was having a better day and when we were all there was doing well. When we left, they were ready to turn him on his stomach. I called about 730 this evening to see how he tolerated the turn (it is at those times he usually dips in O2 sat a little but after about 45 minutes - compensates and balances out). Apparently, he didn't feel like cooperating so much this time. They decided not to leave him on his stomach and turned him back over. After adjust the ventilator back up to 70 his O2 sat came back up to 98-99% and they will gradually bring the vent back down to 40 as he can tolerate. The nurse said they did another bronch and got a bunch more of the cruddies out his lungs.

We all know PJ is a fighter. He looked really good when I left tonight, they were going to try to turn him again when they felt they could. I talked to Chris and he said he was going over early in the morning so hopefully one of us can update early to let you all know how his night went.

With great respect for PJ and his family and friends,
Lynette

One small step for PJ, one giant leap for PJ kind...

PJ has done good today, hopefully that will continue. Just returned from the hospital and PJ is doing well and on his back when I was there to visit him. He is oxygenating very well today. They did bronch him today, and we were told that they found a section of his lung with "crap" caked to the walls of his lungs. They were able to get most of that out, and this could be why he was having such a hard time when they had him on his back. His fever is slight, and he is still fighting the nasty little bug that he has caught. It must be pretty bad, because now they are making us wear gloves when we touch him. Supposedly they have not seen this bug in the hospital for over a year. They will continue him on the bed until it is no longer working, they will not even give us a date now because we just keep getting disappointed. I got to see his face good today and his left arm, the burns are healing great. He is growing hair on his arms, and they are now saying that he may not need any skin grafts at all because of how well he is healing.

So a small step for PJ, hopefully a giant leap for PJ land. As always keep the thoughts and prayers coming.

Chris

A step in the wrong direction...

Well, I am here posting again after a great visit with PJ. Not everything went his way tonight, he is still having intermittent problems saturating oxygen in his lungs. Particularly when he laid on his back and side this evening. Because of that, he gets to stay in the bed for another 24 hours. The nurses seem to say that this is normal behavior, and that most patients go through this. His fever was gone when I left, and they believe that they have found the culprit (a nasty little bug they tell me) and they are dealing with it. We are simply waiting on the lungs to heal, and that is not happening as fast as most of us would like. They put him back to 100% oxygen this evening, and were getting ready to roll him over on his belly when I left. They bathed him tonight, and I finally got to see him laying on his back for a while. The swelling is going down day after day, and his burns are healing great. It is just a waiting game to this point. So not the best of days in PJ land, but things could be much worse. They keep telling me we will have some set backs, and it appears that PJ is having a slight setback tonight. Pray for a good night, and a good couple of days.

That is all for now, as always keep the thoughts and prayers coming.

11/29 Evening Post from Chris

Just returned from a very nice 3 hour visit with PJ. PJ had a rough evening last night, his respiration was not doing what they would have wanted it to do. Having said that, he had a much better day. So his lung volume (?) was over 800 all day, which is good. In fact they changed the pressure from 15 to 14 while I was there, which is also a good thing. His fever was mild all day 100.4, but when I left it was creeping up to 102.4 so getting a bit high. His oxygen level is 40 % which is what we want with his oxygen level in his body was at 98% when I left. He is still in the space bed spinning on his belly for 3 hours and on his back 2 hours. If he can have a good evening tonight, finger's crossed, they will take him off of the spinning bed and start to cut back the medicine that is paralyzing him.

Keep your fingers crossed, and keep those thoughts and prayers coming.

11/ 29 Update from Chris Part II

I talked to the nurse this morning. They were in the process of changing his bandages. They said that they did Bronch him this morning, and did not get much from his lungs. His X-ray is still showing some slight collapse in the back so they are wanting to keep him in the bed another night to make sure they can get this out. He did have a slight fever through the night, but the nurse did not seem to concerned about that. Not sure if I am speaking the terms right yet, but that is what I wrote down. So, one more night in the space bed, and hopefully things will be better in the morning for PJ. I will be visiting him later this afternoon, as soon as I am finished working for the day. Should be about 3:30 Pacific time.

That is what I know for now, so you know what I know. Please keep the thoughts and prayers coming.

11/28 Update from Chris

Hello everyone,

Well I was able to get to San Diego and Steve and I went straight to the hospital. I got to see PJ in his space bed that spins him like a rotisserie. He wears his Darth Vader mask and was on his belly spinning around. The good news is that today, as long as everything continues to go well, he will be removed from that bed and placed back in a more normal bed. I thought that PJ looked great. We sat and talked to him for a few hours, it was wonderful to be able to talk to him. While we were there, his fever was mild, 101 degree and he was oxygenating very well at the time. His face looked wonderful, even with the little bit of swelling that had occurred. I am working from PJ's house this morning, and I will call up again in a few minutes after the shift change to find out his schedule. My plan is to go the hospital at about 3 pm here and visit as long as I can.

I will update more when I hear it. So far things are looking good. At one point, when the nurse was sucking some stuff out of his lungs, you could actually see him coughing. The nurse pointed out that they would need to give him more of the medicine to paralyze him because of this. He needs more days like the last couple that he has had.

That is all for now.

Another Update From Lynette

I have talked to Lynette again, and she said that she was waiting to go up to see him until after they did the suction out of the lungs again today. When she called later, she was told that they weren't going to do the procedure because his vitals were standing strong. (His O2 and such are staying strong). This is GREAT news!

She also said that they just can't believe how great he is looking. I can't wait to see him when I go out again.

I am sure Chris will update more when he gets in and sees him.

Talk to you soon
Heather

Tuesday, November 28

I just got an update from my dad. It seems PJ is doing very well. The nurse said he had a slight fever but nothing to be concerned about. They have lowered his oxygen rate to 40. This is the lowest it will go while he is on the ventilator. They have also lowered the respiration rate from 17 to 14 which means he is breathing more on his own. He was inverted in his space ship bed when my dad called. They told him they were going to be looking in his lungs with the camera after he gets flipped back over.

Chris is on his way to San Diego and will be updating when he finds anything out. Keep those prayers coming!