June 20

Brian had a busy day today. I arrived at the hospital this morning as preparations were underway to place Brian on two separate ECMO machines. One machine (VV ECMO) will have two cannulas attached to Brian working as just his lungs. Then a second machine (AV ECMO) will have two cannulas attached to Brian working solely as his heart. His doctor indicated that in the next few weeks, his heart needs to show that it can work on its own without the need for the AV ECMO machine. They feel that Brian will likely need a lung transplant and he will not be a candidate for the transplant without an independently functioning heart. He also needs to have his liver functioning better to be considered a good candidate. His bilirubin number did go down to 16 as of this morning. 

It's a little after 10 pm tonight and I just spoke to the night nurse. She says his vital signs all look good. The dialysis machine is doing its part to continue to take excess fluid from his body. The ENT specialist took Brian to the operating room this evening and attempted cauterization of the back of his throat where he was bleeding. His nurse said it may have helped, but with the blood thinners he is on to help with the flow of the ECMO machines, it is really hard to stop a patient from bleeding completely. She did say that with Brian now being on two separate ECMO machines, his oxygen levels and heart rate look really good. Hopefully, this will be the extra support he needs to gain the strength his body is drastically needing at this time.