Tuesday, May 13, 2025 Stage 8

May 13 This is the day the Lord has made…. let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Seth has been at the LTAC unit for almost a week now. He progressed to stage 8 on his ventilator weaning this morning (out of 12). So this is great news! The Dr rounded recently and said that it’s good seeing Seth use both his chest and diaphragm muscles! Stage 8 means that he’s off the ventilator for 8 hrs, then on pressure support (where Seth is still doing most of the work) for 8 hrs, and then full support for 8 hrs.

The RT just came in and said he’s practically passed stage 8! Will move to stage 9 tomorrow. PT didn’t get him up out of bed to a chair today because his BP was a little high. The nurse had to give him some extra IV BP this afternoon to help bring it down (on top of oral meds).

Speech came, gave him his first ice chips and said he did good with swallowing them! He is cleared for 1/2 cup of ice chips every 4 hrs while he is off the ventilator. Hannah said she also got to give him ice chips. The left side of his mouth was doing better than the right side, but it just needs practice! The family got the ok that we are allowed to brush his teeth too!

When the dr rounded this afternoon, they also decided to increase his muscle relaxant medication per PTs recommendation to help with his tight muscles. They are also going to make his pain medicine as needed instead of scheduled. Temp this afternoon is 99.3, down from 100 this morning. His bowels are working good, and hopefully improve even more after getting him off narcotics (that can slow things down).

We are so proud of all the hard work Seth is doing! We know that God has big plans for him and it is evident in all the little miracles and praise reports we see in him every day.

Please pray for:

-Praise that cousin Ellis has had no recent seizures!

-Seth’s continued weaning off the ventilator

-Less “neuro storming”

-Praise that Seth did well with his first ice chips today!

-Lower BP so they are able to get Seth out of bed

– Less tight muscles

– A little more responsive each and every day.

Amen

Kerry