Update #58 on Kevin

They tried to cap Kevin’s trach around 10:30 AM. His stats were okay, but he seemed to be trying to breathe through the capped trach. His body hadn’t quite adjusted to breathing in and out through his nose and mouth yet. So, instead of going completely back on the trach tube, they put his speaking valve on. If you’ll remember, the speaking valve, allows him to take breaths in but he has to breathe out through his nose and mouth. He has been on the speaking valve since since then and his vitals have continued to improve. Just now his heart rate is in the 90’s and his respiratory rate has been in the high teens and low 20s. That means he has been off the trach tube and on the speaking valve for 2 ½ hours. I think before the longest had been around 1 hr 20 mins.


The respiratory therapist came in to take his speaking valve off. She only did this to give him a breathing treatment. He coughed just a first and she suctioned it off. Then he was clear. She said he continued to sound really clear. After the breathing treatment, she put the speaking valve back on, but this time left the nasal O2 line off. They had put in on this morning, when they tried the cap. They said that they didn’t think he needed it, but it was just a precaution. He has done so well, it is better that he has it back off.

Physical and occupational therapy came in and worked on his range of motion. Also over the past couple days Kevin’s residuals have been next to nothing. Residuals are just the measurement of what is left in his stomach, in other words, what he is NOT digesting. So low residuals mean that he is digesting his food well. His doctor said this morning that his nutrition levels were normal, so he is getting what he needs.

People continue to ask what they can do for the family, so I will list options here….

 - If you work at American Airlines and have days off that you would consider donating to my brother, Greg, you can do so at the administration desk located next to the injury counselor’s office in the admin building (near the credit union). We are getting ready to start sorting through all Kevin’s possessions that were in Kevin’s house during the flood. We have to go through every single item. It would be very helpful for us if Greg was able to have the time off to help at the warehouse.

- If you want to prepare meals for the family or deliver the meals is something that you would like to help with, we could still use help in that area. You can contact Jeff Congdon, if you would like to prepare or deliver a meal OR you can contribute to the Crosser account #4374300 at 742-DINE.

New stats:
Members of the “Pray for Kevin” Facebook group: 295 members
Subscribers to the “Pray for Kevin” email update list: 285 subscribers
Visitors to prayforkevin.com: 1,968 people
How many times prayforkevin.com has viewed: 6,815 views
Twitter followers of pray4kevin: 30 twitterers

There’s almost been 2000 people go to prayforkevin.com! Thanks for spreading the word. If you know of anyone that would like to get these updates, please forward the updates to them. Or have them go to http://www.prayforkevin.com/ and sign up to receive the updates via email.

Thanks for praying for Kevin,
Matt, Angie and family
_______________________________
http://www.prayforkevin.com/ (click here to read all the updates)
http://prayforkevin.blogspot.com/ (just another way to get there)