{Day 6}

Today has been a rough day, but with a positive direction in the end.  It has been decided that Ben will be extubated in the morning.  The doctors have explained that the longer he is on the ventilator, the more risks of further problems. They feel he is strong enough to handle breathing on his own with the help of high-flow oxygen.  He will still be very sick once the tube is removed, but he will be able to handle breathing while fighting the illness unlike last weekend. 

The plan is they will stop feeds later tonight, stop sedation in the morning, suction all the secretions they can and then finally remove the tube.  He will be awake when they remove the tube and the hour(s) leading up to it.  This will be very challenging to watch, but I feel that I can handle it if I know we are moving forward.  We would appreciate prayers over the next day that this goes well and that Ben will tolerate being off the ventilator and that he will not be in too much pain or discomfort.   

If interested, here are some of the things that have happened since my last update:

• Starting last night and continuing to this morning, Ben ran a fever; His current temperature is normal.
• His heart rate and oxygen levels wavered considerably this afternoon; This has corresponded to when the fever started so they are testing him to make sure there isn't any secondary infection in his lungs that he would have gotten since he got to the hospital.  If there is, they will treat it with antibiotics.
• They determined his ventilator settings were wrong for a few hours today and that could be the reason for some of the "brady" episodes mentioned above, but only time will tell and when we get the result of the tests they performed.
• They attempted to lower his sedation medicine in order to start weaning him, but he has been moving, opening his eyes (trying to at least...they are too swollen to fully open) and acting very uncomfortable. Although I understand it is important to do this, I had a very hard time watching him. Around 5 pm, they finally put it back to the level it was originally at and we are trying to get him comfortable again.
• They performed the first pressure support trial yesterday and Ben failed it. He only made it for a little bit and his breath counts were too high. They performed the second pressure support trial this morning and he did better. He made it the whole hour and his breath counts were in the 60s and 70s versus the 90s yesterday.  Due to this second trial, they feel that he can handle breathing on his own.

I will try to update tomorrow after the extubation.  Please say prayers for our sweet Ben!