04/24/2026
4/23 Dad/Doug UPDATE:
***Dad gave Kyler a couple smiles when he came into the room to see him today!! It was so awesome to see him smile!!***
They are continuing to wean him off the ventilator, and he’s doing great. His trach looks really good, and he’s tolerating it well.
Respiratory therapy came in and lowered his oxygen, and he’s tolerating that well too. They will continue lowering it throughout the day, but he will go back on the ventilator tonight. In the morning, they’ll take him off again and repeat the process, with the goal of hopefully keeping him off the vent tomorrow night. They described it as “waking up and exercising the lungs.”
They are starting to feed him today through the PEG tube.
As long as he continues progressing, they plan to move him out of ICU and down to the 7th floor. The 7th floor is a step-down unit from ICU, still very hands-on, and they can put him back on the vent there if needed since respiratory therapy is also on that floor. The 7th floor is also where all of his therapy would begin. He could potentially be there for months depending on his progress. After that, they will also be looking into Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation as a possible next step, depending on insurance and other factors. The social worker is already working on that.
They started him back on his AFib medication, and he is tolerating it well. They had to give it a little early this morning, so they may increase one of the doses. The doctor said as long as his heart rate stays under 120, he’s doing great. They do not want to lower it too quickly because that can put more stress on his heart.
He also opened his eyes for the doctor, wiggled his toes, and moved his tongue when asked.
Speech therapy came in as well and placed a speaking valve. He was able to push air through and make a noise, which they said is a great sign. That was all they did for speech therapy today because he has a lot of secretions in his throat right now, but they said they’ll be back in a couple of days to continue working with him.