It’s Day 11. Long days into long nights. with Yuri sedated, on a ventilator, in the Intensive Care Unit at Westchester Medical Center, the best place for him to be. While I would like to say he is stable, the Doctor rather realistically pointed out, that using the word “stable” is not accurate.
He’s not improved from the critical condition where the slightest variation of any vital sign throws the delicate balance of the other life-sustaining necessities like heart rate, oxygen saturation, and lungs working on their own. It becomes a complicated choreographed dance number or more like the old vaudeville classic of spinning plates, making sure everything stays moving together in sync.
One of the “every”things I love about Yuri Turchyn is his syntax – his arrangement of words and phrases creating well-formed sentences in language, mostly in his language of songwriting and music – as well as his use of metaphors– all those figures of speech we pick up along the way in our lives. Given to objects or actions where it’s not literally applicable, I was always entertained and amused with his soliloquy usually during our evening conversation time. However, neither works well in a clinical situation.
After several missteps in communication understanding what the medical teams actually mean during their overlapping and integrating shifts, I’ve come to see Yuri as YURI OSX 10.2 – a vast, intricate Operating System affected by a particularly nasty Malware. Where or how it got there is unimportant as we are in the Present.
Infiltrating a network of veins spreading inflammation into his blood and carrying its nefarious design to disrupt, damage, and overtake his physical being. Medical knowledge and technology are at their highest level. So far, Yuri’s system is delicately balanced. The next step in treatment can set him back a day or two. It’s a very slow process before anything can be interpreted as recovery.
Therefore, he is technically “offline” or put on “pause” at the moment, in deep sedation, so maintenance can be done behind-the-scenes giving his system a fighting chance to beat this ugly monster, “Vasculitis” without turning on himself. One of his nurses suggested his organs are taking a vacation from their nonstop function in everyday life.
I wonder if Yuri is using this time to visit his “Mind Palace” of memories – our vacation in Jamaica or one of the wonderful travels revisiting our friends in Italy? Curiously, his brow furrow “worry line” has disappeared. He might be writing or arranging tunes in his head.
His measured breath finally works in time with the ventilator giving his lungs time to heal. The plan is to reduce sedation so he can start breathing on his own again. Antibiotics and strong medicines are being scheduled and will depend on how his vital signs show that day.
As he gets a little stronger every day, they will reduce the amount of pure oxygen as well as the pressure amount that pushes into his chest. New-age dialysis is filtering the hundreds of thousands of miles of interconnecting blood vessels cleansing the Malware. Who knows, it just might become the next wellness opportunity.
So, Yuri is hanging on as I am. Hanging on and staying positive, keeping the faith, and taking those baby steps. The good wishes and prayers are appreciated so much. Thank you.
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