Dear Family,

We arrived home about 5:30 AM this morning, having only run out of gas once [due to a
malfunctioning gas gauge] ... :)

As I was lying in back of the car trying to sleep while waiting for a road service truck to
arrive.  I couldn't get back to sleep, but I was thinking "I can live with this - my
grandson is still alive!".  It's amazing how some things get back into proper perspective
after facing the death of a loved one.

Here is today's news from speaking with Suzanne:

Skylar had some fevers overnight, but not excessive.  They have put him back on some
antibiotics and have done cultures of his IV lines and his urine to see if there is a
particular cause.  His urine output continues to be good - today it equalled his input.
His bilirubin is slightly up, but they are not worried - for practical purposes it is stable.

His ventilator settings over all are about the same - slightly up on oxygen (40%) but lower
on breath rate (22).  PEEP is the same.  Perhaps tomorrow they may be able to come
down a bit.

One of the bedsores on his knee got ugly, and they have put some kind of special dressing
on it.  His white blood cell counts are good.

Because they have removed the paralysis medication and reduced the  sedation, they have
had to restrain his hands to prevent him from pulling out any tubes.  He has been getting
somewhat agitated and his MAP (average blood pressure) has been going up too much.

The respiratory team has been administering percussion therapy to shake loose accumulations
from his lungs.  He seems to like this, his MAP goes down when they do it.  Also after percussion
they have been able to suction more junk out of his lungs.  He has been coughing, which Suzanne
says sounds bad but is good for him as it also exercises his lungs and helps to dislodge foreign
matter.

At his current level of sedation he has more awareness of his surroundings - enough so that when
he is being worked on and doesn't like it, he shakes his head "NO" - which I can just picture.
While this is sad at one level, I find it reassuring that he has the mental facility to do so.

Things are getting better, but his is still not entirely out of the woods.  Thank you for continuing
to pray for Skye.

Love,

-Dann