Little Jonathan's playing a bit of a waiting game at the moment - we're still waiting for him to pick up on his breathing so they can remove the ventilator, and also waiting for him to start digesting his gastric fluids so he can be fed. Until then, he remains on the ventilator, and is still being fed only by the long-line in his arm. Right now, patience seems to be key...
The whole ventilator situation is a bit tricky - although it causes him a bit of discomfort and he needs to be sedated while he's on it, they don't want to take him off it too soon in case he can't cope and needs to be quickly put back on it again. The doctors are waiting for Jonathan to show that he can breathe on his own, but the ventilator tube causes a lot of gunk to build up in his lungs which makes it hard for him to do it himself... the gunk gets suctioned out every few hours so he's able to breathe a bit more easily then.
Apart from just trying to cheer him on to get him breathing on his own, frustratingly there's not much Tracy and I can do to help with his breathing - two and a half weeks on the ventilator is two and half weeks too long, as while he's on the ventilator, it also means no hugs!
Anyway, in other news, Jonathan did get to enjoy the Royal Wedding from his bed in St Thomas' hospital, which is just across the river from Westminster. Although he was sound asleep for the whole thing, he was able to hear the wedding bells, and if he'd opened his eyes, he would've seen the fly-by go past his window...
The whole ventilator situation is a bit tricky - although it causes him a bit of discomfort and he needs to be sedated while he's on it, they don't want to take him off it too soon in case he can't cope and needs to be quickly put back on it again. The doctors are waiting for Jonathan to show that he can breathe on his own, but the ventilator tube causes a lot of gunk to build up in his lungs which makes it hard for him to do it himself... the gunk gets suctioned out every few hours so he's able to breathe a bit more easily then.
Yesterday he had a not-so-great blood gas reading which meant they had to turn up his ventilation. That was really frustrating to us as it seemed he was heading in the wrong direction. It left us a little down when we left the hospital, but today, much to our relief, he had a better reading and so they started turning it down again.
Apart from just trying to cheer him on to get him breathing on his own, frustratingly there's not much Tracy and I can do to help with his breathing - two and a half weeks on the ventilator is two and half weeks too long, as while he's on the ventilator, it also means no hugs!
Anyway, in other news, Jonathan did get to enjoy the Royal Wedding from his bed in St Thomas' hospital, which is just across the river from Westminster. Although he was sound asleep for the whole thing, he was able to hear the wedding bells, and if he'd opened his eyes, he would've seen the fly-by go past his window...
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