We can’t have our phones on while in the PICU, but there is a phone available to us at Eli’s bedside. If we’re not answering our phones, try us at 612.874.4911. It’s a good idea to call ahead if you plan on visiting, that way you can make sure we’ll be here.
Eli was extubated about a half-hour ago. He’s doing really well and looks very good. Now he just has to wait a few hours to make sure he’s in the clear and then he can eat.
Sadly, Eli did not have any tubes pulled today. He had a small air bubble in his chest and they’re hoping it either works its way out of his chest tubes or just absorbs into his body. It sounds like tomorrow will be the day as the surgeon (the decision-maker for just about everything) wants to get his chest tubes out and get him extubated.
We had a great number of visitors today. Thank you to those able to take time out from your schedules to encourage us and be with us.
Eli had a great night, the nurses were very impressed with how well he did. He slept peacefully and his stats looked great. Today when Dave and I got there he was excited to ‘see’ us (his eys were closed), we said ‘hi’ to Eli and his blood pressure went up, his heart rate increased and he was squirming and moving a bunch. The nurses had to give him some more medication to sedate him and keep him calm. The doctors and nurses want to keep him calm and let him rest for a few days before making him ‘work’. We were told yesterday they would take him off the ventilator today but the doctors had a pow-wow and decided to wait until tomorrow, hopefully. They wanted to give him one more day of rest and if he does well tonight they will look at taking him off tomorrow. Eli was squirming a few different times and responding to touch and voices.
The hopeful plan is, once he’s off the ventilator, the chest tubes and tube to his stomach will come out as well. If he responds well to those changes he will be able to eat after a few hours of resting. Please pray that he will have a great night and we’ll take another step forward tomorrow.
Thank you for all your prayers, comments/emails and support. We are so grateful for all of you!
We hung out with Eli for a bit, then we went out for some lunch. He’s doing well. They have him heavily sedated so he can rest and recover. The plan is to remove his ventilator tomorrow morning if all goes well. We’ll be here at the hospital for awhile longer and then we’re going to go home and get some rest since Eli isn’t really doing much. Tomorrow will be a bigger day for hanging around if he comes off the vent, so we’ll rest up for that. Thank you for all your prayers.
The Burlingames 