Extubation Attempted

It's one in the morning and this is Loretta attempting to recap the information from this long day (now yesterday) for Sarah. She has been in the PICU all day with Ellie and is with Melanie there tonight. She has no access to the computer.

It was a complex and turbulunt day for all. The day began with the plan to extubate Ellie and then the decision fluxuated throughout the day with low blood pressures, deep sedations, and elevated temperatures. In the morning, we had fluid in one lung and the plan was to work to help Ellie be free of this before she was extubated. It was touch and go most of the day. Finally it was determined that her lungs were clear and the breathing tube could be removed. This happened around 7:30 PM, and for an hour family and medical staff talked and worked with Ellie to help clear her air ways – to cough and adjust to the tube being gone. Ellie worked like a champion – cooperating with multiple requests. In one short hour, after the application of the CPAP mask, the effort failed and Ellie had to be reintubated. We are moving into the night working to balance her blood pressures again (now they are high) and investigating a rising fever.

Sarah & John once again faced incredible challenges and decisions and worked to gird themselves up as they watched Ellie go through all this. Sarah states that the grace of God once again took over for them in so many ways. She said that in all the hard areas there was grace all the way to the end of the day – even for John whose day exceeded 25 hours. Again, she says we can feel all the prays that are keeping us going beyond what we could have imagined. So much so, that today was like yesterday in this regard, except even more so.