Wednesday Morning Update

Well last night was a very eventful night but not as much as two nights ago. I am sorry that this will be brief but you will still get the update that you all really want. So anyways last night was full of up and down with Sam and his nurse Jenn rarely got a moment to herself and it seemed that Sam really did want all of the attention that he could get. He came really close, a couple of times, to removing his own ventilator tube which could have turned out to be rather painful and these occurrences really did keep us more aware as we became more tired. As we have been saying the whole time his awareness and ability to fight the drugs is a really good sign but also might still be a little premature in relation to the readiness of his brain.

However, there is some good, well more GREAT news. Hopefully today, based on a couple of tests, Sam will be able to be removed from the ventilator. This will have him breathing on his own and remove, what I think, a large part of what is causing him stress at the moment, the ventilator tube. Just a little info, the tube that is helping him breath actually stretches from his teeth into his throat and stuff about 23 centimeters, now I don't quite know how many inches that is but it seems to be enough to annoy the heck out of the easy going person that Sam is.

While Sam being removed from the ventilator is great news, it does hinge on a couple of tests that will tell us how much CO2 is in his body. Now the less CO2 the better because what CO2 does is it dilates the veins in the brain which increases blood flow and also increases the amount of swelling that his brain does. The way that the CO2 levels stay low is based on how deep of breaths Sam takes and also how much CO2 he pushes out on the exhale, and these both are directly related. So, if all goes well and Sam is able to maintain his CO2 levels the doctors will probably see fit to take him off of the ventilator to breathe on his own.

Please pray this morning for God to strengthen Sam's lungs and will, so that he can be taken off of the ventilator.

And if this procedure were not to happen today it is possible that it would happen tomorrow, but why not have it happen today. Keep praying and your prayers and offers of support are really helping out my mom, Sam, and me. Thank you so so much and we will let you know tonight how today went.

In God We Trust>>>Cameron Huntting

--Cameron Huntting (chunttin@uoregon.edu)