June 21

Brian's doctor called to let me know that he is stable and flow for both ECMO machines looks good. They did try to wake him up again today by lowering his sedation to check for neurological function, but according to his doctor, it was too fast and too soon (his heart rate was too high) so they had to increase his sedation again to allow him more time to rest and recover. The bleeding in his mouth seems to have mostly stopped. They reduced his blood thinners today because the flow in the ECMO machines looked really good.  I questioned this since the blood thinners are what keeps him from clotting and was worried that he would begin to have more blood clotting issues, but his doctor told me that they are doing their best to balance his bleeding with how much blood thinners are necessary. He did receive a few blood transfusions today to make up for the loss since yesterday. Every decision seems to have pros and cons that require careful consideration.