My Meeting with Big Chief Fix'em

I had a good chat with the Chief of Surgery today. (The night nurse was more or less correct. ) Amacker continues to make progress, but until she is very stable they aren't going to make any big steps. They will not try for the arm surgery before Wednesday, and they won't wake her up or remove her breathing tubes until after that.

Her breathing slipped a bit last night, so they increased her Peep (pressure in her lungs from the breathing machine) from 5 to 8. They left oxygen at 50%. The machine gives her 20 breaths per minute, but she's taking 27, so 7 of those are all on her own. They are also tightly controlling her blood sugars at this point. The fever is holding, and I'm assured it's normal.

An interesting side affect of this experience is that I know much more about care than I wanted to. When doctors have told me various numbers, I follow their glances in the room and see where they're looking when they answer. Over time I've learned where to read all the settings on the machines, and I've asked enough questions as to what it all means, so now when I go in I say things like, "Oh, her Peep is up a bit, did her blood gasses slip?" Now the nurses say things like, "Oh, you're a doctor?" I haven't yet answered yes, but as soon as I have the confidence... If you see me running around Stanford in a white doctor's coat don't blow my cover. I promise I won't perform surgery until I ask lots of questions about that.