The Waiting Game

Kevin is still in the ICU at Stanford. Most of today has been spent waiting for things to happen, which, of course, haven’t happened yet. He still has the breathing tube in and is very sedated. The doctors have been talking for a couple days about getting him off the ventilator, but they have been hung up on deciding what to do next. They are debating between putting in a temporary tracheostomy or taking out the breathing tube to see how well he controls his airway. If they do the latter and he succeeds at protecting his airway, wonderful; however, if he is unable to swallow or prevent himself from aspirating, they will have to put the breathing tube back in and then insert a temporary tracheostomy. We are trying to be very patient with all of this, but it is still extremely frustrating to twiddle our thumbs while the doctors decide what is best, especially since Kevin doesn’t gain anything from waiting an extra day to get the breathing tube out.

The ICU’s visiting schedule at Stanford is also very draining. We are only allowed to see Kevin for half an hour every two hours. Each time we go into his room, we are buried with new information. We only get half an hour to process the information and talk to the nurses, then we have to sit in the waiting room for another hour and a half awaiting the next visitation. Our patience is being tested, but we’re trying desperately to pass the test. We spent some time today watching “17 Again,” which, while not the best movie ever made, was the perfect, brainless distraction for making us smile and chuckle at its corniness.

Thank you to everyone for your healing thoughts and prayers. Please keep them coming!!