It's been a long day. Stan's condition was roughly the same most of the day, but started improving a bit this evening. His temperature is normal, his blood pressure is good, and his kidneys are functioning acceptably (with the help of Lasix). He also had tests performed on his heart and it looks to be in very good shape.

They attempted to lower his FiO2 to 65% this morning, but he didn't tolerate it well so they returned it to 75%. The doctor then ordered a change to his ventilator settings (IP 38, PEEP 20) which increased the pressure pushing into his lungs and also increased the resistance on exhalation (keeping his lungs open more) and he seemed to do a bit better. His tidal volume (volume of air in each breath) increased to 550 mL (up from < 450 mL) which helped oxygenation. Late this afternoon they reduced the FiO2 to 65% and he was able to tolerate it without problems. They reduced it again to 60% at about 6:00 PM and his SpO2 was still maintaining 93% at 10:00 PM tonight. This is the process of starting to wean Stan off the ventilator. They are also starting to slightly reduce the levels of the steroids, pain medication, and paralytic agent they have been giving him.

We are encouraged, but remain cautious due to the up and down nature of his condition. Go, Pop, Go!

Channel Man Stan is still holding his own. The doctors and staff are busy doing rounds this morning and his nurse Jennifer reported that he had a quiet night. Stan's vital signs are pretty much unchanged from yesterday evening and the ventilator settings have not been changed since 7:00 PM last night. His nurse has said repeatedly that we are likely in this for the long haul and that things will be up and down. She also keeps reminding us to stay well rested and to be prepared for a bumpy ride.

Stan's condition is still extremely critical, but he is stable for now. He still does not have a fever and his kidneys are putting out fluid. His FiO2 was reduced to 75% at around noon and has remained there since, but ventilator settings had to be slightly adjusted (not in a good way) to keep his SpO2 levels above 90%. Overall his condition has improved very slightly from yesterday, but things are still very tenuous. Stan's brother Harold and sister-in-law Pat arrived in Rochester from Florida this afternoon and have joined the chorus of support.

Something I have been meaning to address on this blog is the South Channel Blog itself. The SC blog was created to support the South Channel area by sharing information and helping protect this unique and stunningly beautiful natural resource. Until his recent illness, Channel Man Stan had been diligent about updating the blog regularly and was receiving feedback regarding the blog and SC website from South Channel lovers near and far.

I have temporarily been using the blog as an efficient way to share information about my Dad's condition with family, friends, and South Channel lovers, wherever they may be. My father will probably be somewhat annoyed by this and I can hear him saying, "What the hell does this have to do with the South Channel?" My response will be that for me and for many who know him, Channel Man Stan embodies the spirit of this rugged and beautiful place and it is entirely fitting and appropriate to use the blog in this way during his time of personal crisis. We encourage anyone who wishes to post comments, feedback, well-wishes, or prayers on the blog.

We all love you Pop.

-- Channel Man's Son Lance (ltopping@bizwonk.com)

The RN assigned to Stan in the ICU reports that he had another relatively good night. His blood oxygenation improved enough that they were able to lower his FiO2 levels to 80% and he seems to be tolerating it ok. They have also begun to lower the amount of paralytic he is under which will encourage his own respiratory system to start trying to do some of the work. We are hopeful this trend will continue, but are cautiously optimistic as this situation has been one of constant ups and downs.

The South Channel must have been glorious this weekend! Channel Man will be upset with the fact that he missed being in his true element for a stretch of such beautiful weather. Words can hardly describe his love for the Parry Sound area and his special place in the channel. He occupies a similar place in many of our hearts.

Stan's condition is largely unchanged tonight. His kidney function is acceptable for now, his white blood cell count is lower and he is not running a temperature, and his blood pressure is reasonably normal. The pathology report from St. James Hospital in Hornell came back completely negative. The main concern now is improving his respiratory function, as he is in complete respiratory failure. His SpO2 (saturation of oxyhemoglobin or blood oxygen saturation) is around 92% with the respirator set on 90% FiO2. The strategy is start lowering the FiO2 level by 10% once the SpO2 has stabilized at > 95% for two hours, with a goal of having his body then maintain an SpO2 level of over 90%.

Tomorrow will be a new day. Goodnight Pop, rest well.

Stan is still critical and his condition remains largely unchanged this afternoon. He does not have a fever and his blood pressure is normal. His FiO2 level was decreased to 70%, which he tolerated well. It was then decreased again to 50%, which caused his blood oxygen saturation level to decrease to the point where they staff restored his FiO2 back to 90% to help him stabilize again. He was given Lasix to stimulate his renal function and this seems to have worked somewhat well for the short term.

The past few days have been a roller coaster ride of emotional ups and downs and this may very well be the case for a while. Having our family and friends together is helping us hold on and cope with the rough ride. Fight, Channel Man, fight!

Channel Man Stan's vital signs are improving. He is stable and his overall condition and blood oxygenation levels have improved enough that the doctors have lowered the FiO2 level on his respirator to 50% to test what he can tolerate. Kidney function is of primary concern at this point. A renal specialist is being consulted this morning to determine a strategy to improve things. The Physician's Assistant monitoring Stan said, "Things are still critical, but we no longer feel like they are minute-to-minute."

Stan made it through the night and continues to improve slightly. His blood pressure is close to normal and his oxygen saturation is still looking good, but not yet good enough to lower his FiO2 level to less than 90%. He has stabilized enough that he was able to be repositioned on his bed and have his bedding changed and he seems to be resting more comfortably. However, his kidney function has decreased and the doctors will be monitoring that closely.

Thank you to all the medical and hospital staff at St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell, the ambulance and Medivac helicopter crews that transported him from Hornell to Rochester, and all the people at Highland Hospital in Rochester who are currently taking care of him. The level of professionalism, sensitivity, and caring from all of these folks has been incredible and the quality of care he has received has been nothing short of phenomenal. Thank you also to all of his friends, extended family, and the clergy who have been so supportive during this difficult time. We are overwhelmed by everyone's love and support and cannot begin to fully express our gratitude for you all being there during our hour of need.

Channel Man continues to hold his own and although he is still critical and on a ventilator, things seem to be beginning to stabilize. His temperature is now normal. His blood pressures are slowly trending upward toward more normal and his blood oxygen saturation improved to the point where they were able to decrease his Fi02 (Fraction of Inspired Oxygen or the amount of oxygen they are giving him) to 90%. The night staff is hoping to continue to lower this to 70% before morning if he continues to improve oxygenating on his own. For more details on ventilation follow this ventilator info link.

He is also starting to show signs of excess fluid accumulation in his body and is experiencing increasing renal distress, but nothing exceptionally abnormal given the overall situation. The nursing staff said, "You need to swell to get well." We hope Channel Man Stan and all of his family will get a good night's rest tonight!

Channel Man Stan is in extremely critical condition, but is still hanging in there as of 7:00 PM this evening. His family, friends, and clergy have been by his side and maintained a vigil in the ICU waiting room at the hospital.

Late this morning and throughout the early afternoon his blood pressure and blood oxygen saturation declined to dangerous levels and he started to become anemic. He was given medications to paralyze his body to prevent it from fighting the respirator and was also given a dose of very powerful antibiotics and infused with steroids. However, the ICU staff was running low in their "bag of tricks" and things began to look quite dire. A difficult meeting with the attending physician in the ICU made it clear that his condition was continuing to deteriorate and that little else could be done to improve things.

Late this afternoon his fever began to subside and his condition improved slightly. He also was transfused with two units of blood at around 5:00 PM which were intended to help improve the oxygenation of his blood and vital organs, and hopefully begin to turn things in the right direction. This seemed fitting and more than earned given that he has been a devout blood donor for almost 60 years and has donated almost 220 units (or over 26 gallons) of blood over his lifetime.

His condition continues to be extremely critical and although he has improved slightly since earlier today, things are still running minute-to-minute and he is far from out of the woods. Please keep Stan and our family in your thoughts and prayers.

-- Channel Man's Son Lance

The ICU nursing station at the hospital reports that Stan had a relatively good night and is still stable. He resting more comfortably now, but has been running a fever and doctors are eager to identify and understand the pathology behind the infection.

Tammy, Stan's RN assigned for this shift, said that they had to completely shave his beard off so they would be better able to tape on the breathing apparatus. We are certain Channel Man will highly disapprove of the new "clean-cut" look. Coincidentally, Tammy and Stan's daughter Johanna attended RN orientation together when they started working at Highland Hospital. Even more coincidentally, Tammy knew Stan's granddaughter Kiera from when Kiera did an internship at Highland last summer which included a week spent training and assisting in the ICU.

The hospital staff has recommended that we wait until 11:30 AM before descending on the unit today. We're planning on following their lead and will report back later when we learn more.

Channel Man Stan is in critical condition and on a respirator in the intensive care unit at Highland Hospital in Rochester. He occasionally regains consciousness for brief periods and is able to respond to family and his caregivers, but is being kept heavily sedated most of the time to make him more comfortable and able to rest. His overall condition seems to be fairly stable at present.

-- Channel Man's Son

Channel Man had a rough night. Early this morning his blood gas levels were continuing to deteriorate, so he was sedated and intubated this morning at around 8:30 AM and put on a respirator. He was flown by medivac helicopter at 1:05 PM this afternoon from Hornell, NY to Rochester, NY where he was transported to Highland Hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit there. His vital signs actually improved slightly during the flight.



Coincidentally, his daughter is a Registered Nurse that works at Highland Hospital. At present Mrs. Channel Man, both of his children, and some close friends are at the hospital with him. Please keep him in your prayers.

Channel Man is stable and was moved to the intensive care unit at 7:30 PM this evening so he could rest more peacefully and be better monitored throughout the night. His appearance has improved and he is in fairly good spirits given the circumstances. He said not to worry and that he was a "tough old bird", and that he was planning on getting a good night's rest tonight. He also said "Channel Man will be back in action before you know it." Those of us that know him well know he's usually right.

Sleep well Pop.

-- Channel Man's Son

Thank you for visiting the South Channel website and blog. Your interest and support makes maintaining the site worthwhile and is very much appreciated.

As you may have noticed, Channel Man Stan's blog entries have been a bit sporadic as of late and it has been several days since he has posted an update. This is not by his own choice. Channel Man Stan went to the emergency room at the West Parry Sound Health Centre last Friday night and was diagnosed with a very acute case of viral pneumonia. He received treatment, but didn't respond as hoped and his illness has temporarily prevented him from being able to share his musings.

Mr. and Mrs. Channel Man left the Parry Sound area yesterday morning to return to the US for additional treatment under the care of his primary physician. Upon their return to Hornell, NY, Channel Man's condition had worsened to the point that he was rushed to the emergency room via ambulance and was admitted to the hospital yesterday afternoon at 4:00 PM. His condition is fair and somewhat stable, but extremely serious and potentially life threatening. He may be moved into the intensive care unit later today if his condition does not begin to improve. He is alert and awake and doing as well as can be expected, but obviously will not be able to continue his posts for the time being.

I will continue to post updates when I can. Please keep Channel Man Stan and our family in your hearts and prayers.

We love you Channel Man.

-- Channel Man's Son Lance (ltopping@bizwonk.com)

the long anticipated long weekend has not been so great so far. But rightnow it is not so bad, good sun and less wind. Only 11 C. now, however.

This has been a pleasant day for us, even though we had light rain all day and even now it is making music on the roof.

We did make it back today. And we were very lucky. We were about two houra ahead of some very unpleasant weather around Toronto. Once again Parry Sound was the place to be. It was only 17 C. This afternoon, but what a beautiful day.

WE enjoyed the sun on the calm water of the narrows and watched the Cove Isle make her way back to the Coast Guard Station. What a neat wind down after a long trip. The triliums are at their peak right now, and the black flies aren't. They are still here, but not in the numbers we saw last week. The mosquitoes are competing with them to find a patch of hide to chomp, and that always means the black flies are about to pack it in.

The lake is up a bit, but not much. We had about 3/4" of rain over the past week, and it came a bit each day, and it all soaked in enough to ease the fire hazard.
some.

We expect to be back in our Seven Mile Narrows catbird seat tomorrow. And then we will be able to post new pictures and observations. We can barely contain ourselves today.

The black fly season has been spotty this year. It seems that they came out about a week early here in the narrows. Strong sun and little wind here. It is always a surprise to feel the difference just around the corner at Craganmor.

When we left on the 7th we had experience the three worst days of black flies that we could remember, and they had already tapered off considerably. Other places - Craganmor and our marina - were just beginning to get them on that Monday.

So it will be interesting to see what sort of welcoming committee will be there for our return. If things go along on nature's regular schedule we should be at or near the end of them by the weekend. Lets just keep in mind that even black flies have their good points, they are the chief pollenaters for blue berries.

By the way the mosquitoes seem to be coming out early.

It has been noted by a few that I have not posted lately. I was gratified to know that this blog is actually viewed by other people and not done just for myself. But that would be OK as well.

We returned to new York on the 7th. And we got stuck here for a while. However, we will be back observing the channel in a couple of days.

We did notice as we went into town that the East side of the swing bridge was being dredged. We saw the first of the triliums on that day. They were few and small. I expect that they will be glorious by the time we get back.

Devil's Elbow transfer Station - Photographer, Mrs. Channel Man
 
 
  

We heard some comments at the transfer station this afternoon. It was said , more or less, that the Archipelago had over reacted in their dealing with the bear problem. I strongly feel that is not the case. This solution is becoming the norm.

Many users of the facility have no idea of the scope of what has been done at the station in the past. I personally feel that the bears aren't even half of the problem. People have left garbage on the dock and on the ground. Some are afraid of the bears, while others are just plain lazy. "Or in a rush." People have been careless about closing the bin doors. Often when the doors are open the bear decides on take out rather than eating in.

Many man hours are spent each week in clean up at the station, and when cottagers drop by there it always looks great and they have no idea how it came to look that way. Now when I say the bears opt for take out, it is not just outside of the bins. They often like to have a bear's picnic off in the trees. Last year a six man crew spent two days dragging garbage back out of the bush. So I say good for the Archipelago.

By the way, I tried the fence out. It should do the job.

Along My Trail
  

The day began with a little light rain, but it never amounted to much at all. We are still very dry here. South of here the fire hazard rating has been elevated to EXTREME and fire bans are being imposed.

We saw no black flies today. I expect it was mainly because of th e chilly air and the wind, but even yesterday they were not out in the swarms we saw over the previous three days. One can hope that we have seen the worst of them.

Spring Morning


The unseasonal weather keeps coming. A bit cooler today, about 18 C., and some short cloudy periods, but still a gem of a day, and much better for working. There is a noticeable greening of our world just in the course of a day. And more blossoms popping out.

The pike tournament begins this weekend and we see that pike fisherfolk are checking in at Craganmor Point. We are too busy for pike fishing this year, but the bass better watch out.

We just received the USACE monthly bulletin and 6 month water level prediction. The estimate for the July/August high level is almost exactly what we had last year. Not such good news for those without deep water docking. Precipitation for April was below average, our 12 month total precipitation in the Great Lakes Basin has been below average, and the net supply of water to Michigan/Huron has been below average. It could be worse, but as of now that is not the expectation.

This afternoon we discovered the first violets that we have seen this season. They were on our beach. Spring seems to be coming about two weeks early this year. The red oaks have tiny leaves now. Not so much the white oaks. the maples are in bloom and the blueberries have fat buds ready to blossom.

The day began with clouds, then after a two minute shower the sun was out by mid morning and we suffered through another sunny day in the low 20 degrees.

The black flies, however, are as bad as I have ever seen them be. We are being swarmed. At this rate they bshould be done by the long weekend. Too bad that the mosquitoes are showing an early presence.

We had a pair of humming birds here yesterday, but the first ones to show are usually passing through. they stopped at our twin berry shrubs, which are in full blossom.

The humidity the week has been extremely low. As a result our fire hazzard rating has been raised to HIGH.

Gypsy Moth Egg Case - photographer, Mrs. Channel Man
Bottom view showing eggs and top view





Things are really looking good this year as far as forrest pests are concered. This as a picture of the only gypsy moth egg case that we could find, and so far we haven't found any forest tent caterpillar cases. However, they are much more difficult to spot.

This year the Water Quality Workshop will be held early in June. A new testing protocol is to be introduced by Dr. Schiefer at that time.

In any event, water testing will commence on the South Channel sometime around the long May weekend. Please inform us before then of any concerns that you may have.

We saw a bit of a SE wind today and that was OK, because the sun was strong and hot, 24 C, at one point. And the heat really brought out the black flies. They are biting like crazy today.

The swing bridge is being refurbished and one side was closed for water traffic. There wasn't all that much traffic , so that was OK as well.

We watched as all three of the large police boats went down and then back up teh South Channel. We get to see this only once a year. Hereafter, for the rest of thye season twao of them will be on station to our north and to our south.

The buds have burst now on most of our trees and the birches are sporting catkins.
Violets are out as well. So I suppose that means spring is officially here.

Today is even nicer than yesterday We are at about 23 C. right now Other than a few high clouds it is clear and sunny with a brisk SEly wind.

The fire hazzard rating is still moderate, but it has been climbing every day. One of the townships south of here has already imposed a fire ban. I don't see the kind of rain we need coming in the shor run.

We were at the Devil's Elbow Transfer Station this morning and the electrified bear fence that was installed last October seems to be working. And so was the Archipelago crew.

Craganmor Point opens for business on Friday.