Off the Vent

Morgan finally came off the ventilator Tuesday morning. They tried to extubate her Sunday morning but she didn't tolerate it because her airway was irritated and swollen from the vent tube. The doctors decided to leave her on the vent and give her some medicine to reduce the swelling and help open her airway. It seems to have done the trick as she is back on the cannula and doing well. In fact, she's been on 21% oxygen (same as room air) most of the time, so hopefully that will hold up as they wean down her oxygen flow. With any luck she'll be off the oxygen support completely sooner rather than later.

Besides the vent progress, she is also back on full feeds and off all of the IV fluids. The occupational therapist will probably begin working with her on bottle feedings again in the next day or two. A move back to the 8th floor should also be coming soon as well.

The best news is that she is clearly not having the reflux problems she had before the fundo surgery. She seems much more comfortable during her feeds and when she is sleeping. And as much as she enjoys her pacifier the past few days, she should do much better with her bottle feedings than before. Even if she does catch on to the bottle feeding quickly, the doctors have told us that her g-button will need to stay in for at least 3 months to give the site enough time to heal before they would consider removing it.

We still don't have an exact date for her to come home but now it is just a matter of letting her recover from the surgery. We're still hopeful she'll make it in time for Christmas.