A little insomnia

Since I left Torrey last night on a high of sorts, I decided to spend the morning with Thalia.
We opted to have breakfast at Stonebrooks (formerly the Lyons on White Rock) before starting her day at school.
We had a lovely morning, and I was in a great mood as I strolled into the ICU.

Unfortunately, Torrey had not slept a wink all night, and was extremely agitated.
He was in the middle of a horrible anxiety attack when I arrived and I tried to work with the nurse to get him to calm down. We finally had to resort (much to the dismay of the doctor) to giving him a light sedative to calm him down.

The primary resident is going to consult with the team on alternative treatment they can administer when he has these attacks so we don't risk a relapse by using the sedatives. If you recall from previous posts, the sedatives seem to be the culprit in lowering his blood pressure and making him less alert, so we try to avoid them at all costs.
According to the night nurse, Torrey was trying to avoid sedatives all night, but the sleep deprivation just became too much for him. I have comfort in knowing that he realizes what is best for himself, and tries his hardest to be a good patient.

Once he calmed down enough to take a nap, he seemed to do ok. He still didn't seem quite right this evening when I visited, but the nurse said the priority tonight will be to get him to sleep. So, she closed the door to his room to give him some quiet, and I rubbed his forehead until he fell asleep. I sat there for a while to watch over him, and he only woke up briefly a couple of times.

The nurse intended on bothering him as little as possible tonight to ensure he gets some steady sleep.

His white blood count was down a bit today; he was temporarily taken off antibiotics to see how his body reacts to this. He is still on a low dose of the blood pressure meds, and he had a break from dialysis today.

His dialysis will start again tomorrow, but they want to also ensure they squeeze in some physical therapy which cannot take place during the dialysis treatment. We are eager to get him writing so he can communicate better. His range of motion seems to have improved despite the sleep deprivation. He can reach up high enough to touch his face - we just have to make sure that during his 'hazy' times that he doesn't try to pull out the breathing tube. So far he hasn't grabbed a hold of it too many times.

Thalia seemed very happy to have the extra time with me this morning; she had a meltdown after school today about not being able to visit Torrey, but when I suggested she draw a picture of him in the hospital, she calmed right down and got to work. This was a suggestion that the social worker had made. She's made him some get well cards and done other projects, but I was amazed at how accurate her drawing was. She is obviously picking up and absorbing much more than we thought.

I'll be making an early phone call tomorrow to Torrey's night nurse to see how he slept overnight. If I have time, I'll update the blog with how he did.

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend.
- Monica