April 21, 2012 ...Recovery

OK, we made it through the night with no major problems. Clayton is still on the ventilator, but the main concern was his kidney. The kidney endured trauma from being moved around during surgery, so a lack of "liveliness" following surgery was expected. The important thing was to ensure there was no unexpected damage. So we spent the night waiting for him to pee-pee. He gradually produced a little more and more throughout the night. To be on the safe side though, the doctors ordered ultrasounds and a sonogram to ensure the kidney looked good and had sufficient blood flow. His creatine (marker of kidney function) was slightly elevated this morning, however, Dr. La Quaglia is not concerned and feels that is expected after yesterday's surgery. George and I have complete confidence in Dr. La Quaglia.
From a respiratory standpoint he was sedated and on minimal ventilation. They have since reduced his ventilation rate further and taken him off of his previous sedation meds and switched to propofol while we wait to come off the ventilator. From there he'll get morphine as he needs it for pain.
I am getting a little frustrated with the doctors here in the PICU about how long it is taking them to round on Clayton. Where we are right now is actually across the street from Memorial Sloan at the New York Presbyterian Hospital in the PICU. Today's doctors are taking their sweet time rounding on Clayton and it's pissing me off. He is more awake then he was overnight and yet they haven't bothered to stop in and say let's try to take him off the ventilator since we already reduced his sedation.

Updated:
OK so we talked to the Peds attending and the nephrologist and we're all on the same page now. We are giving him a chance to breath on his own now, and we'll check his blood gas (?) in a little bit to be sure his levels all look good. Right now though he is holding his O2 at 100%, but his respiratory rate is a little high- that could be from the extra fluid on his body though.

More later...

Here is a pic from yesterday. And his view- which lots of New Yorkers would pay a lot of money for...