Rhonda, Pop's nurse this morning, said that he had a good night and although he is still critical, he continues to slowly improve. She saw him open his eyes several times again and he is starting to occasionally move one hand a bit. His vital signs are stable and the ventilator settings were holding, with the FiO2 still set at 40%. Rhonda said they may try and start decreasing the pressure settings (IP and PEEP) later today to continue the process of weaning him off the ventilator.

The inspiration pressure (IP) is the pressure used to inflate the lungs on each breath. The positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP), is a special setting on the ventilator that keeps the lungs expanded to help get oxygen from the lungs into the bloodstream. Click on this link for more information on Mechanical Ventilation. Pop is currently being ventilated using positive pressure controlled ventilation (PCV), but this mode will probably be changed as he starts to breathe more on his own.