November 21 - 6:00 pm ET Update

Hi Everyone -

I just spoke with the head nurse.  Dad is still stable.  They were able to move the ventilator oxygen down from 100% to 80% and anticipate dropping it down to 70% within the next 30 minutes (great news; means his lungs are doing well).  His blood pressure is still a little low (currently 99/58) but his mid arterial pressure is good (between 65 - 75), which means his kidneys and brain are doing really well (mid arterial pressure is more important in this scenario).

Of course, I have been the dictator of nutrition... with help from my good friend Alison (Chief Science Officer of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) we were able to get him on a higher protein enteral tube feed (i.e., a specialized formulation to go in his feeding tube) with extra vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium (antioxidant vitamins to help control any inflammation).  I am also having them monitor his potassium and magnesium, as we are showing these two minerals to be important in our current ongoing study of COVID-19 ICU patients.  Isn't it wild that my Dad get's put into the ICU, while I'm running a study on COVID-19 patients in the ICU?!  Having been working on COVID-19 since May from a research perspective, Jennie Stuart Medical Center ICU is really doing everything right...  

Long story short... Dad is stable.  I will give the nurse a call in the morning and update everyone.  They are swamped with ICU patients (had to wait 45 minutes to talk to the nurse), so I'm trying not to overwhelm them by calling too much.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Taylor