Shannon's waking up!!

Nothing but good news from rounds today.

Not only is Shannon continuing to cough spontaneously from time to time, but this morning she turned her head while the nurse was suctioning out her nose. Her pupils have become more reactive albeit sluggish. Then on rounds she moved (withdrew to pain) her right leg and shrugged both shoulders! These are the first signs that not only is the sedation wearing off but also giving us a picture of her neurologic function and slow recovery. As the sedation wears off and she begins to recover, we would expect her to first withdraw (or move away from painful stimulus), then localize (move toward the pain), then move spontaneously, and then follow commands. On rounds they turned down her versed and fentanyl medications to lighten up her sedation. Hopefully her ICPs will stay down and we will begin to see more motor functions.

Everything else is going well too. She is maintaining adequate blood pressures so they have stopped the BP medication (norepinephrine). They are also going to begin to increase her tube feedings as she is having more signs of bowel function. They are starting to wean her off the ventilator support and hopefully as the sedation continues to be weaned, we will begin to see spontaneous breathing. She did have a fever last night which is not unexpected as she has multiple reasons to be febrile. All her cultures have been negative except the lungs and she is on appropriate antibiotics for that. All good things. Baby steps, small miracles, tender mercies....