The very fact that I had some difficulty feeling our patient’s carotid arterial pulse tells us something. In addition, when I placed my finger on the pulse, the upstroke is a bit slow, and we confirmed that together. By using the cotton swab and placing it on the vessel we observed that the tip of that cotton swab had a reduced excursion during each systole.
There is a message to this, and it also fits well with what we observed in the blood pressure. You’ll recall the blood pressure was a bit on the low side and the pulse pressure was also a bit on the low side.