Thank you to all of you who have helped me keep vigil, given moral support, and give me a laugh or two over the last week regarding GMB02's serious illness and hospitalization. This community is wonderful and has been an endless source of support for me and even those beyond our community. So, here's an update.
They are working to wean him off of the ventilator using what is essentially a high-powered version of the CPAP people with sleep apnea use. In order to do that, they have had to "wake him up" from the deep sedation he was under. He knows me, and our priest, and his family, and he also knows he's still intubated--which is not pretty to watch. However, they do have to "wake him up" to do this and there is hope that they can get him to an assisted rather than dependent breathing full-time in the next couple of days. His dialysis is less constant and his kidney and liver function is steadily improving. There is some (very common in ICU's) staph pneumonia related to his intubation which is responding to treatment and his blood infection responded to treatment. He's going to be in the hospital for a while, and his organs are beginning to function, but he's not out of the woods.
He's better than he was, and has a shot at coming out of this, and for this we are grateful. Big cheers to his team and to his and to my family for rallying around him.
Do me a favor: keep following teacherken's wife's updates and those of other Kossacks who are also in crisis. This community is doing a great deal to comfort and heal one another. For which I am grateful.
Special thanks to all the Kossacks who have helped me through this. You know who you are: all of you.
I'll be around for a bit.
6:14 PM PT: UPDATE: Here is the link to teacherken's diary: http://www.dailykos.com/...