Struggling with blood pressure

Gell well soon Riley!

For the last 24 hours Riley has been struggling with low blood pressure. They gave saline and packed red blood cells and that worked temporarily. They gave albumen which was supposed to boost his blood pressure with more lasting results, but that was also temporary. And because saline and albumen are both fluid, he has gotten swollen and all the extra fluid on board was affecting the pressure in his Glenn circuit and in another part of his circulation (I cannot remember the name), which is bad. Just before heading home last night, he was given a dose of Vasopressin. It worked to keep his blood pressure near normal levels for several hours, but now it’s wearing off and his blood pressure is back down into the high 60s/ low 70s. His blood pressure and how to treat it will be discussed during rounds that will begin in the unit at 9 am.

He started opening his eyes last night a bit and became a little communicative overnight responding to conversation with some nodding when his pressure was up. But because he still has some medicine on board that makes him largely paralyzed, he cannot move much. The nodding is a big step. I suspect he is also quite terrified to try and move anything anyway, even if he could for fear of pain. I remember that from previous surgeries that we could tell when he was really uncomfortable because he would become exceedingly still. 

When I spoke to the cardiologist last night she said, "Even though he's making progress, he is still a long way from being stable." That is becoming more and more clear unfortunately.