slowing down

I'm happy to report that there isn't too much new news on the Caelan front.  We've started the process of weaning the medication and slowly waking him up.  He began his methadone yesterday and after his second dose we turned off the morphine.  I admit to being terified with this plan.  I understood that the methadone should take the morphine's place as far as pain medication but to just turn it off like that made me nervous.  The methadone should also help with any withdrawal so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  They reduced his medazolam (versed) by 10% today and tomorrow will try and replace it with ativan which is another sedative but not a narcotic.  Caelan slept most of today with brief periods of being slightly awake.  He'd try to raise his arms and lift his head but it takes every ounce of his strength before he flops them back down exhausted.  This evening he actually signed 'up' in the slowest of slow motions.  When asked if he could try and open his eyes the best he could do was raise his eyebrows as high as can be, barely managing to open his eyes a slit.  We're just at the beginning of waking him, he's still not ready to be taken off the vent yet.  Still too sedated for that, but the slow steps are good.  This morning they changed the vent settings to c-pap (not the same mask as when he was decannulated but the same pressures and oxygen levels delivered to the tracheostomy).   Both Damian and I noticed a decrease in his puffiness, there's still a lot of swelling but he doesn't look like he's about to pop.  There was some give to the skin on his hands and feet and they were no longer as tight.  Nephrology is keeping a close eye on all his blood work (done twice a day through that lovely central line - no pokes) and have ordered another urinalysis.  Renal function looked better today, a slight improvement from the past couple days.  Oh, and all that poop protocal paid off BIG time!  It feels like everything is moving in the right direction.