Another Milestone Passed

While Kent hasn't woken up yet, he has passed yet another milestone. Up until now Kent has been on a sedative called Propofol.



"Propofol is a short-acting intravenous anesthetic agent used for the induction of general anesthesia in adult patients and pediatric patients older than 3 years of age; maintenance of general anesthesia in adult patients and pediatric patients older than 2 months of age; and sedation in medical contexts, such as intensive care unit (ICU) sedation for intubated, mechanically ventilated adults, and in procedures such as colonoscopy. It provides no analgesia."



The machine that administers it to Kent works on a scale. The high point of Kent's dosage was a 20. Early this morning he was down to 5 and when we came back from lunch they had him completely off of the medication. Dad says if he doesn't wake up soon he's going to give him a kick in the butt. While we know that he is speaking figuratively we told him that the hospital probably wouldn't condone that kind of behavior.

The other drug that they have Kent on is called Fentanyl. Like the sedative they have decreased the dosage on this as well. The maximum dosage was set at 20 and they have decreased it to 12.

Fentanyls are extensively used for anesthesia and analgesia, most often in the operating room and intensive care unit. Fentanyl transdermal patch is used in chronic pain management. Fentanyl patches work by releasing fentanyl into body fats, which then slowly release the drug into the blood stream over 72 hours, allowing for long lasting relief from pain.

In the beginning he was on many more drugs but they have taken him off eveything else. We consider each of these events a little milestone. As we pass each we will have a better idea of how and when Kent will recover. The hardest part now is waiting to see what he will be like when he wakes up. It will be at that point that we can set a new set of goals in helping him on his way to recovery.