07/20/2007

Boy have we had an Emery day! I came up this morning to see him before work, and he was hysterical.Apparently he wasn't tolerating his feeds, he was throwing up, aspirating, choking, gagging, moaning, wailing... you name it. It was enough that he has been worked up all day for everything under the sun, with chest x-rays, belly films, labs, doctor's assessments, and he's back up to 3 liters of O2 because his respiratory status declined. I finally asked why he was having so much trouble with a PEG tube, (because I started freaking out and getting very upset )which is supposed to be a very easy procedure, and the GI fellow thinks his bumper is too tight. I'm waiting for them to come now and fix it, but he is finally doing a little better and tolerating SOME feeds, and he has much better pain control now. He is saturating well and not working so hard to breathe, so I'm hoping that as the weekend progresses he will be able to wean back down at least to 2 liters. Good ole Emery. He does the exact opposite of what everyone expects. The poor nurse was nearly in tears. All I kept thinking was "fix it." I was so scared that I started getting really mad. It makes you wonder what people are really afraid of when they just walk around angry all of the time.