Paul: 2/22 - Morning

9:39am
Jennifer Muszik UPDATE: Paul made more improvements last night. Here are some of the numbers:
BP - He is down to only 2 BP meds and the 2nd one is half of what it was last night. They will pull both of those off together, so the goal today is getting him off those and allowing his body to do this work.
Kidneys - The dialysis has helped the ph in his blood. He is no longer considered acidotic & his creatnine is down to 5.01- Praise God!
Liver - Those numbers, while still not good, are also improving.
Lungs - He is down to 50% oxygen with PEEP still at 14 and blood gases look good. They will start to lower that PEEP today and see if we can get to the goal of 30% with PEEP below 5 in the next few days
Rash - His rash looks like it is getting better. There is still open skin that is weeping, so we need to keep an eye on that both for infections and pressure, but God answered those specific prayers.

New Concerns:
Platelets - his platelets are really low. This is concerning because that is how he would clot if there is an active bleed. While they don't see any active bleeds right now, they are making decisions on what to do about that

Ultrasound Results - there is an abscess in his abdomen with fluid. They would really like to get a CT Scan to see more before making any decisions, but he is not stable enough to get that. And, since the antibiotics seems to be working, they are likely going to wait another day or so to get that done.

Paul is in there. When I was talking with him this morning, he was moving his eyebrows and moving his thumb. I am trying to help him understand that his body still works, but the medicines are slowing his ability to move it. I know he is scared and I continue to try to talk with him through the process. To let him know the next steps, what is happening, and that we are all here - both in person, and all around the world, praying for him.

Please continue to pray! I don't know if I have said this in the past, but Paul is still on life support. Without all of the interventions right now, he would not be here. So, while I talk about the improvements, because that keeps us positive, he is no where near out of the woods yet. This will be a weeks - months process. The good news about that is - just yesterday - we were talking about getting through minutes & hours. We weren't talking about longer term plans and complications because we didn't know we would have that much time. Your prayers are working. Please know how much we all appreciate them. And, we will keep you updated.

Much Love & Many thanks to everyone!!!