Thursday, April 2

11.30am report: So Greenwich hospital is getting very busy now so my calls are definitely limited - I just spoke with a nurse who is assisting dads nurse, but she is not working directly with him. She was able to give us a topline report - with limited details. So he is breathing steady with the support of oxygen tubes and they are happy with that progress. Patients who have been extubated will have problems swallowing for days so with dad today, they will do a few swallowing tests with him to check and see if he is able to handle the meds (inclusive of the COVID-19 concoction meds). If he is not able to swallow as of yet, they will run a tube into him to get those meds down. All else is stable - no word on x-rays or other markers at this point… This is all good news.

1pm report: So just got a call from the ICU as they were ready to bring the phone into dads room and have us chat with him. When the nurse Diedre told him that she was going to get us on the phone he slurred out an ‘I Love You’ - she said obviously that was not for her, and was for us - but if the staff only knew - that yes, it probably was for her.. We got on the phone and told him how everyone was rooting for him and how strong he was and how proud we are and how much we love him, etc. etc. etc. He was able to respond in an extremely groggy voice with another ‘I Love You’ and a couple of ‘yeses’ - Honestly he was tough to make out - but he was reacting in sync with our words in a comprehensive conversation manner.. This was great! Soon we will all be chatting with him.. All good things….

2pm report: The crew at Greenwich ICU is amazing - Nurse Ellen just called and thought it would great for us and for dad if we FaceTime…. so I did.. Adam and I were busy telling him how much we loved him and we and everyone were pulling for him… We again got an ‘i love you’ and a couple of smiles.. Still heavily sedated, this will wear off as time passes. So great seeing and talking to dad - The past week seems like a lifetime without being able to do that…..

8.45pm update: Just heard from Dr. Pepipa that the ICU tonight is swamped and things are totally crazy, however, dad is stable and is a calm element of the unit right now. Their plan is to transfer him out of ICU tonight to the telemetry unit - which is right down the hall (the telemetry unit is where patients are often in critical condition and need constant monitoring and care. Telemetry nurses review data from special equipment to track a patient's heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and other vitals). They are confident with his progress to date as his oxygen saturation levels with the nasal prong is 94%, his markers are all stable or have gone down and his Blood Pressure is at 150. They are currently holding meds as they do not want to put a tube into his stomach to get the meds down, as no one likes that, and they don’t want to add any stressors at this time. In a day or two they will switch to IV meds. With regard to the COVID-19 med concoction, he is on day 9 - and they max that out at day 10, so they just might be done with that. He is coming out his sedative state at a slow rate but tonight he’s got the TV on - so alert enough.

9pm update: Just heard from Dr. Mazo, I guess in all the craziness at the unit tonight Dr Pepipa wasn’t aware that Dr Mazo would be able to make his nightly call. Anyway, when he did call, he mentioned that dad will be moved out only in the case that they need the bed in ICU - but they would prefer to watch him overnight - He is breathing comfortably with the breathing tube however don’t forget his lungs are severely compromised from this virus. He is still not really speaking and is still slightly disoriented however you would see that with any non COVID-19 patient coming off a intubation tube. So again, he would prefer to transfer him tomorrow - Still not out of the woods….sounds like they go slammed there today….