Butterfly Kisses

Hello all. Sorry for the late post. Lynette and I went to see PJ tonight around 5:30 pm. Everything is still going very well in PJ land. He was pretty worn out, but still in and out. He wasn't fighting the restraints as much as he was earlier today and yesterday.

This morning, they took him off the vent for 30 minutes to breathe on his own, he did very well. They told us that they were going to do the same in the evening. When we got there tonight, I asked how it went, and she said that she took him off and started "working" on him. Then she looked up at the clock, and he had been off the vent for an HOUR with NO PROBLEMS!!! This is what we wanted to hear!!! So tomorrow, they will take him off again for a little longer, and a little more frequently. The setting on the vent while he is on it allows him to "over breathe" the vent if he wants. He has been over breathing a lot. That is awesome... GO PEEJ!

So, he still really likes to tell you no... about EVERYTHING. He is like a two year old.

While we were there, I told him that I loved him, and.... he "blew me" a kiss. It was quite funny. Lynette and I kinda looked at each other and said, "Did he just do that, really?" Then when I was leaving I told him I was going to give him a kiss, and he did it again... it was pretty cool.

Stats are great. Infection is getting better, no fever. Blood sugar was 103, blood pressure was great. Yes.. a good day in PJ land yet again. Kisses and all...


I can't tell you how proud I am of him. He has come such a long way! The nurse tonight said that she thought he would be on the vent until at least Christmas, and now she thinks he will be completely awake and off the vent by the end of the week if he does every step of this process without a problem... So, we need more days like the last few.


Heather

Good Morning....

OK so I will have to start thinking up clever titles like Chris.

I got here yesterday, and couldn't wait to go and see him. When I did get up there, Chris had to tell me what I could and couldn't do, (I have a thing about pulling out the trach and trying to kill my brother) before I really felt comfortable enough to take the reins here.

Once Chris and my Dad left, and the Ativan levels started wearing off from the decrease in the dosage, PJ was in and out a lot. I think I lucked out and got him when he was "more awake". Don't get me wrong, he is in and out like Chris said, but I tell you what, he was shaking his head"yes" and "no" left and right. (We all know that there was more of the "no").

He was coughing quite a bit when I was there. Dan the nurse said that was great. That's what they want to see. Right now, the vent is set to breath for him, however if he tries to overcompensate, that isn't a bad thing. If he keeps doing well on this setting, and keeps up with the great coughing, then they will lower his vent settings more (maybe today) and he will be breathing more on his own....

PJ did know that I was there yesterday. I asked him if he knew who I was and he shook his head yes and mouthed Heather. (All these years of working in the DRIVE THRU PHARMACY paid off... I can read lips!) He does get very frustrated with the situation. But, if you tell him to calm down and that every things OK, and he seems to calm down. I can't imagine how scary it would be to wake up like this; but the good thing is, he only remembers the moment. He won't remember any of this when he finally "wakes up" completely...


OK time to shower and get ready to go frustrate him more today! (Just kidding)

Heather

On the road to recovery...

Hello PJ Land, well it was another exciting day in the wonderful world of PJ. First off, he had a great night. He has really responded well to the new ventilator settings, and is going along with it very nicely. They dropped his Ativan again today, so he was a bit more alert and man was that tongue going! When he wakes up, he opens his eyes and then immediately starts moving his tongue to get his feeding tube out of his mouth. He is sweating all the time, so I am always wiping him when I am there. He is responding to commands, and I thought was reacting much better when he woke up. We found out today that the Ativan is addicting, and he will have to be weened off of it and is given Methadone to counteract the detox symptoms. He is doing really well, so all the prayers are working.

His left hand was completely uncovered today, and although it doesn't look near as good as his right, it will heal very nicely. It did have some dark blisters, but the nurse said that is normal and will heal in time. He is doing great and will be up and moving in no time I am sure. This is my last blog for a while, Heather is here now and she can keep everyone updated.


Hug your loved ones, and tell them you love them.

Chris

The Dawning of a New Era...

I talked to my Dad this morning, and he said that PJ had a great night. He is doing well on the new ventilator settings so that is great to hear. So as they slowly get him adjusted to the new settings, then I assume they will slowly lift the Ativan to allow him to be more awake as we go. He is still kind of in and out now that they put him on the Ativan, which I think is good. We need to see if he will tolerate the ventilator before we just wake him up. I will be up there in an hour or so to see him as well.

Heather, PJ's sister, arrives today as well. She will be staying out for the next couple of weeks to keep an eye on him and let him know that everyone loves him. That is all for now, more when I return from the hospital.

Remember, hug your loved ones and tell them you love them.

Chris

WHAT A DAY....

Well, when I got to the hospital, the first thing the nurse told me was that he didn't do so good. So after hearing that my hopes were down. She told me that he did have a brief period of desaturation when she went to lunch. So I was in the middle of lecturing him on how he needs to behave and work with them in the hospital. That is when the nurse came in and gave me the BEST NEWS YET, they were taking him off the paralytic medicine and moving his vent to the pressure setting instead of the volume setting (or it could be the other way around for all I know), but anyway they were going to let him start waking up and moving. Then they kicked me out so they could change all of his lines. About 1.5 hours later, they let me back in because, of course, right when they were going to let me in he crapped himself so they had to clean that up. So when I went in there they asked me to speak to him, AND HE OPENED HIS EYES!!!!!!! The tears just started welling up, he was loopy, but responding to simple requests and questions. He responded that he knew my name was Chris, and that he was in the hospital. He was not happy at all, he looked a bit mad and very much scared, which I think is to be expected. So I got to talk to him, but he was getting all worked up and kept trying to talk back to me, which is not good. So after about an hour, the nurse and I thought it would be best if they started his Ativan again to sedate him and let him rest and get some sleep. It was tough to leave him, but I am going to put my faith in the nurses that they know what is best. I am going to go back up there when my Dad gets here in an hour or so. It is very tough to see him struggling when he wakes up, not knowing what is going on. They keep telling me that he won't remember, but it is still tough to see. So now we need him to cooperate and relax, which we all know is not his strong suit given the situationl. I told them that if you give him any control, he will want to take all control which is bad. They will slowly start to reduce the sedative and allow him to start taking over the breathing. The better he does, and the more he cooperates, the quicker he will get out of the hospital.

It has been a huge step today, so much so that now I am thinking that I may stay out here a few more days so that I can talk to him. I haven't decided on that yet, but I am thinking about it.

Well that is the news that I have been waiting to type, and I got my wish today. Things could still go backwards, so we need to be cautiously optimistic about all this. What a day. Well remember hug your loved ones and tell them you love them.

Chris

All the kings horses, and all the kings men...

Hello all, just got of the phone with the nurse and PJ had another good night YIPEE! He no episodes of desaturation, and has done wonderfully since he got the trach. Not that the trach has contributed to it. So if we can continue to have these good days and nights, they will start to change the ventilator and start modifying the PEEP (Which I have no idea what that is), but the RT (Respitory Therapist) yesterday told me that is what we are wanting to be the next steps. So he is doing better. They are still bronching him daily, and they continue to get a bunch of stuff out of his lungs. They particularly get most of the stuff out of the upper right lobe. The RT told me yesterday that his lungs were looking better, not good yet but better than they have in the past.

I took off work today to rest and I will get to see him this afternoon. My dad gets here tonight, and Heather gets here tomorrow. PJ will have plenty of love here, which is great. I wish I could be here when he wakes up, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers, they have been wonderful. Hug you loved ones and tell them you love them.

Chris

Picture of the spinning bed...

In case anyone wanted to see the spinning space bed from hell, here is a picture.

Chris

Another day, another piece of spaghetti...

PJ had a great day today. His vitals were good all day. Oxygen level was at a solid 40% all day long and he did really well with his new trach. We definitely need more days like we had today. His fever was down and they cut back his food supply today, which also means they cut down his insulin needs. I was able to see his left hand better today, although it looks good, that is definitely one of the areas that was hurt quite a bit. He is just doing so great. At this point, we need for him to continue like this for a while and then they will begin to reverse the respirator to make it more of PJ breathing. That is when they will start to bring him out of the coma and send him on the road to therapy.

PJ is doing so good that I keep trying to talk his nurse into letting me shave him so that I can shave designs in him. Big Guy and I think we should do 1 of 2 things: 1.) Shave a Hitler mustache on him (my personal favorite), or 2.) Big ugly shovel sideburns and a soul patch under the chin. In fact, post your comments to tell us what you would want us to shave on him, I am interested in hearing what everyone elses idea for shaving him like.

Well that is all for now, a great day for PJ and we need many more. Hug your loved ones and tell them you love them.

Chris

I almost killed PJ...... Twice!

Just kidding. PJ received his tracheotomy today and given everything that he went through today, he did pretty darn good. While I was up there, I actually knocked the trach tube off twice while I was rubbing his arms. I had actually seen the nurse do it so I knew what to do. I was FREAKING OUT on the inside, but on the outside I was my old calm collected self. He did well today other than a brief episode of desaturation this morning. He was trached and bronched and CPT'd (which I really don't know what that is) and still had a good day of breathing. When I talked to the doctor today, he said that his lungs are healing, but it will take a little while. While they don't think it will be months, it won't just be days either. So we are still in the waiting game. So I entertained myself this evening by watching him blow large snot bubbles out of his nose as he rested. It was a wonderful sight to see, in fact at one point while the nurse was out Lynnette told me to suction it out. So I did! I got to use the small vacuum machine and sucked out a nice long spaghetti booger out of his nose. That was the highlight of my evening. It was a good day in PJ land today, and we need more of those.

I also got to see his entire right hand tonight and it looked great. He may have a few small scars, but nothing significant. He is moving along nicely with his burns. I decided that I am going to be flying out on Sunday with my Dad. Heather will take the reins here and keep us all updated.

Hug your loved ones, and tell them you love them!

Chris

Tracheotomy here we come...

Well all, I had a brief visit with PJ tonight, mainly because I am exhausted after work today and I think that I need to rest a bit. PJ had a good day today. The doctors have asked for consent to do the tracheotomy on PJ for tomorrow. They said that although he is doing well, his lungs are still not great so he will need the ventilator longer than they can keep him on it through his mouth. So tomorrow he will be getting the trach around 10 - 11 am. I have a lighter day tomorrow so I should be able to get up to the hospital a bit earlier than today. So PJ is doing well, tomorrow is a trach and I will update the blog tomorrow morning to let folks know how everything is going.

Thanks to everyone for all the thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

Chris

Morning Report 12/5

Called the morning nurse, Scott, this morning and he told me that PJ had another good night. No episodes of desaturation which is what we want. They are going to bronch him today and told me they have to change some lines and tubes so that it would be good to come up in the afternoon. Hopefully we will have another good day today when I get up there and there will be more good news this evening.

Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers, they are greatly appreciated.

That is all for now,
Chris

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