FEBRUARY 12, 2020

Today marks another baby step in right direction on what we hope will be the marathon of Jon’s ultimate recovery. Jon’s team continues to fight his significant sepsis infection. They did a CT scan (X-ray image) on his brain, chest and stomach to get a better idea on the health of each. We won’t know the results of those until tomorrow. There is a fair amount of bleeding happening from Jon’s PICC line site (thin, soft, long tube inserted into Jon’s vein) and his tracheotomy site, he is already low on blood and is receiving units regularly so they are lowering his his Heparin dose to hopefully help reduce this bleeding. Today Jon’s team will start reducing the ventilatory pressure from his VA ECMO to hopefully help repair his collapsed lung. His blood pressure is down slightly which they attribute to the aggressive fluid pulls so his team plans to scale back on those slightly, he is also on less steroids which might be contributing to his lower blood pressure as well. Overall though his blood pressure averages in the mid to low 60’s which is his team’s target. Because Jon’s heart is showing marked (but minimal) improvement he is no longer on the heart transplant list. It is the hope of his team that Jon’s heart will continue to show signs of recovery so they can eventually step Jon down from VA ECMO (heart and lung support) to VV ECMO (just lung support). They will continue weaning his VA ECMO (currently at 4.3-4.5 range) and check his heart while doing so every few days to see if they can eventually get that number down to zero.

Still with me? That’s a lot of medical stuff. All very important and all keeping our Jon alive. I sometimes find myself getting lost in the day-to-day medical side of things. Lately we’ve all made a point of setting aside time to recall some of our best “Jon Moments” not only to keep that part of him alive within us but also to allow a short reprieve from the colossal, and emotional rollercoaster we’ve all been tossed on and strapped into. I know many people who are keeping up-to-date with Jon’s progress share in that sentiment and are probably doing the same.

And in case you find yourself in need of some “Jon Moments” inspiration....

#WatsonNation

#EffSTSS