11/07/2008 - Wildman emerges

On Friday, the morning nurse said Terumi had been moving his head from side to side. When they wanted to suction his throat, he would bite on the tube so the suction device could not go in. He also was trying to open his eyes. They had to put a bite block in his mouth to keep him from biting on his tube. Because of his moving around, they had to give him a little more sedative, which meant re-regulating the other medicines to keep the heart from beating too fast, and to adjust the blood pressure. He seemed slightly swollen -- I think because of the blood pressure medication -- but the nurse said some of the swelling had gone down, including in his eyes.

The rounds doctors had suggested trying to tube feed him about a spoonful an hour, but the nurses disagreed. Because his abdomen was swollen, the nurses did not think he could tolerate it, and so did not do it. Dr. Feldman came in while I was there, and was quite pleased with his progress. He said Terumi's chest was much better -- much less fluid. Of course, they want to use as little medication as possible.

Before we left, the night nurse said she was going to retract the blood pressure medication little by little to see how little he needs. We asked him if he knew they were calling him "Wildman". It definitely was not our imagination -- he nodded and smiled with the corners of his eyes and mouth.