June 7

We are pleased to report that Gene is much better! His pneumonia turned out to be Klebsiella; they have been giving him two antibiotics, including Levaquin which has knocked it out! His pulmonologist, Dr. Shome, reported that his lungs are almost clear. Let us just say that Dr. Shome is a fantastic doctor. Alan knew him from a time when he was in private practice and treated Mommy Anne, and cannot say enough good things about him. He now practices Critical Care Medicine, Infectious Disease Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pulmonology – and we are very lucky that he has been on Dad’s case! It seems that when a bed and a ventilator are available, Dad will be moving to an intermediate care setting there at the hospital. We are thinking that is very good news.

He has been very alert at all the visitation times today. His ventilator settings are no longer on high and so he doesn’t have to have sedation. They tell us that he is mostly breathing on his own. Right now the ventilator is providing pressure (like what a person who uses a c-pap machine gets) in order to give him breathing support. He is not able to speak because of the tracheotomy, but today he sure did try to communicate with us. We do pretty well, but none of us are as good at reading lips as he is, so sometimes it’s frustrating.

They have also moved his bed to upright 30 degrees. They will have to put the collar back on him when he begins to sit up, but right now he can be this much elevated without the collar. Dr. Shome says that getting him somewhat upright is pretty important in keeping the pneumonia away!

Dad does not have mobility in his feet or legs. He does tell us that he has feeling. He can move his right arm, but not his fingers. It’s hard for us to tell if he can move his left arm, because it’s the arm that’s got his PICC line. His right diaphragm is paralyzed. The long term outlook for how much mobility he can regain is not certain, but there is hope that high-quality rehabilitation will allow him to have good strength and movement return to his arms and hands and perhaps his legs. Dr. Shome also told us that many people live with one side of the diaphragm paralyzed. He was so encouraging tonight.

Tomorrow, the family – Mom, Russ, Lynn and Alan, Steve and Pat, and Mom’s trusted minister, Dr. Carver plan to try to meet with as many of his physicians as possible in order to get as clear a picture as possible of where we are.We will report tomorrow.

Today’s visitors included:

Emily, her sister and brother-in-law Frances and Bob, Alan, Lynn, Liga, and dear friends Shirley Wright and her mother Margie Rudolph.

Today’s prayer requests:

Continue to pray for Dad to completely defeat this Klebsiella pneumonia, and for him to be able to see improvement in his mobility.