Our concerns seesaw in concert with Aaron’s metabolism. Parameters so nicely behaved 3 days ago and trending better seem to have lost their compass and fluctuate wildly. Systolic blood pressure surges to 200 and plummets to 60.
Ongoing platelet transfusions aren’t enough staunch the flow of Aaron’s blood through leaky capillary walls. He is bleeding internally. But it’s not like he is bleeding somewhere—he’s bleeding everywhere. Transfusions of whole blood are begun. These, together with an open bar of medicinal cocktails, keep his seesaw within the bounds of life.
One of Aaron’s life lines is the CVP (Central Venous Pressure. This dual use line provides a tube through which to ply Aaron with cocktails, as well a transducer from whose pressure measurements inside the atrium the effects of the cocktails may be surmised.) line which pierces through the right side of his neck into a vein and threads its way down into the right atrium of the heart. Kamala notices that the skin is a little red around the entry point. She also observes that, over the past few days, Aaron tends turn his head to the right, and drool tends to run down into the vicinity where the line pierces the skin. Perhaps this line is a hideout of the infectious allies of the enemy. The line has been in for a while, so even though days of negative cultures performed in the vigilant search for infection have turned up nothing, the CVP line is removed and reinserted into the left side of his neck. As a further precaution the arterial probe line is removed from Aaron’s left wrist and inserted into his right wrist.
To further regain control and stability, the Paralyzer Vecuronium is re-enlisted.
Aaron is returned to deep sleep and the stillness of paralysis.
By midnight, his numbers are stable and acceptable.
The fever is under control.
Aaron is not ready to breathe on his own quite yet.
