This has been a good day. Only a single crisis, and it was in the wee hours early, when for no obvious reason, Aaron’s oxygen saturation briefly plummets.
It could be related to Aaron’s odd reactions to the paralyzing drug. The Vecuronium doesn’t quite work as predictably as it normally does. A small handheld machine the size of a 1994 cell phone injects a small current into Aaron’s skin, and the muscle twitching in response to the current measures of effective the drug is working. Sometimes, with very little paralyzing drug, Aaron doesn’t twitch at all, which means it’s working very well; it is unwise for the paralyzer to work too well, as paralyzing his heart is not one of the treatment goals. Other times, with a fair amount of paralyzer, Aaron twitches a lot. So it’s hard to predict just how much he needs. As a result, Aaron will intermittently still attempt to breath. When he does so, he overrides the ventilator and promptly gets into trouble, going quickly into oxygen deficit.
Kamela, who is on again today, grows a little exasperated as she attempts to tweak the untweakable. But it’s a small detail compared to the crises of the last few days.
“Pneumothorax” is a fancy word for what happens if a blowout occurs. The high pressure puffs being blown into Aaron’s lungs by the Ventilator risk blowing a hole in the delicate tissue. There is some evidence that that may have happened, so quickly more tests are done. A portable Xray machine is wheeled in again as it has been a number of times over the last few days. The Xray “film” (it’s actually not film…it’s a plate that yields its hidden image directly to the computer without needing chemical development). is slipped between slick surfaces under the air mattress. Aaron does not need to be moved; his delicate balance is not disturbed.
The image shows nothing. False alarm.
Aaron looks better, having lost about 8 pounds of water since the Urinator joined forces with his own kidney to mop up after the carnage wrought against the mutants.
The numbers of his life are better. His oxygen supply is sustainable.
This has been a good day.
