So are we! It is 4 p.m. and we have not yet received “the call” to go down to the OR. They continue to assure us that it will happen today.
Parker has done fine back on the vent and the sedation medications. We have a good plan and a knowledgeable team in place for when extubation does happen again. The hope is that it will be tomorrow.
After a day to get our heads around what has happened, ask questions (of anyone who dares walk into the room) we feel that what has happened is essentially “The Perfect Storm.”
What everyone seems to think is that a combination of factors came to a head to cause the episode. First of all, Parker is a baby. His airway is already small. Add to that some “floppiness” that the surgery aimed to correct but won’t really be corrected fully until a few months down the road. Then add some residual swelling from the surgery and being intubated for a week. Throw in a little mucus plug or some thick lung goop for good measure. Then take kid who is already a breathholder and send him into a panic when he coughs and can’t breath. Now add lots of alarms, lots of doctors, masks in your face, nebulizers, blood samples, etc. I think you get the point.
Of course, we won’t really know until they get in there and take a look. But lots of doctors with lots of experience watching kids go through and recover from this surgery seem to all think that this (or some version of it) is what is going on.
Ian and I had lots of questions for everyone about how exactly you break this cycle of episode/reintubation/episode reintubation if, in deed, this theory pans out. There seems to be a good plan. And of course, the further away we get from the surgery and the stronger the site is the more “tricks” they can use to avoid reintubation. I will go into more detail on this after we get out of the OR.
WOOO. HOOOO. We just got the 30 minute countdown. I promise to update quickly as soon as we know something.
Suzanne