Maintenance is the goal for John right now. He is having a lot of difficulty consistently maintaining his blood pressure and treatment varies between extra fluids and meds that will constrict blood vessels. He has also had some trouble maintaining his oxygen saturation. Respiratory therapy and the nurses vary the percentage of oxygen and the pressure assist to compensate for whatever John can't do for himself.
The doctors have tried lots of medications for comfort while the breathing tube is in. The goal is to be asleep but able to wake up to follow simple commands like squeeze my hand when roused. John hasn't been able to do that since Thursday. The drugs may be hanging around longer than they should due to slowed down functioning of major organs like kidneys and liver. If that is the problem, the drug excess can also depress breathing and pressure. So, for now, all of those meds have been removed and replaced with antivan as needed. John is still not waking up so it is pretty likely the original meds are hanging around and still affecting him.
Some of the meds that are not targeted at fungi have been removed. It will be interesting to see if his rash goes away now. If it does, that will mean it was a medication rash which is preferable to the return of gvhd.
So, thank you for the prayers and good thoughts; keep them coming. John is far from out of the woods just yet.
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