“Respiratory acidosis. Acute on chronic? No—HCO₃ is normal. This is acute hypercapnic failure. Her muscles are exhausted,” Maya said.
Four hours later, the tocilizumab infusion finished. Maya ordered the 6-hour ABG. abg tocil
Dr. Maya Shah, the senior fellow, rubbed her eyes and walked toward the nursing station. The chart on Bed 4 read: Female, 34, severe COVID-19 pneumonia, day 12 . Two words were underlined in red: clinical deterioration . “Respiratory acidosis
Jake smiled. “It worked.”
Maya’s intern, Jake, was already there, holding a blood gas syringe. “Her saturations dropped to 82% on BiPAP. The team wants an ABG before deciding on intubation.” ” Maya said. Four hours later