June 25

 Brian had a calm/steady day today. It was good to see him and just put eyes on what he looks like and speak in person to his care team. Much of the swelling in his body has decreased. He has had 20 lbs of fluids removed from his body in the past two weeks. Brian started his blood-thinning medication, Heparin, today. So far, it looks like there aren't any issues with bleeding. The hope is that the Heparin will stabilize the blood clots that have formed in his lungs. Doctors have decided to wait until Monday before trying to wake him up to evaluate him neurologically. They will do a weekly CT scan of his brain to look for any bleeding or clotting. The CT scan, however, is only able to show any catastrophic issues. It will not show minor problems. This is why doctors are wanting to wake him up so that they can do a more thorough evaluation.

Within the next 24-48 hours, doctors would like to try and decrease the assistance that the VA ECMO machine is giving to Brian's heart. The right ventricle of his heart is the area they are focusing on as this is the area that is not functioning well. Brian's bilirubin number did increase a bit today. It is between 16.6-16.8.