Extubation!!

The Trach is out, the ET tube is out and this girl is breathing on her own!!!!  It's been about two hours now and all is going very well!  Now let me tell the story with a little more detail.

Around 12:15 the team of doctors started to group outside the door.  As soon as I looked up and saw them my stomach did a giant flip.  I was so anxious and excited to do this, but also very nervous!!  It brought back weird emotions from the past.  I remember very strongly the "extubation days" in the NICU and feeling very excited, but the more extubation days that we had that ended in failure, the more scary they became.  I vividly remember the first ten minutes after they would pull the tube.  That was scary time and each time it failed I lost more and more hope for the next trial.  But today was going to be different and I felt that and was optimistic.

We prepped Eden a little and she was not happy about it.  She heard us say "take off the tape" and didn't even let us finish before she was saying she didn't want to do it.  As the team started coming into the room she started to get upset.  I crawled up on the bed beside her, Brad stood to the side and and held her hands and the process began.  

As expected, removing the tape was bad.  She was really mad and thrashing around while Brad and I did our best to hold her down and comfort her at the same time.  As soon as the tape came out, we counted to three and the respiratory lady pulled out the tube.  Unfortunately Eden was already really worked up and crying and that just made it worse.  The next probably ten minutes was a little scary as she gasped for air and was very panicked.  The respiratory lady held a mask over her mouth with a breathing treatment and I did my best to help calm her down.  

She coughed a lot and gagged on mucus and all the while I'm praying so fervently that I could help her calm down so she could stabilize.  I got her looking in my eyes and trying to coach her through big breathes and she slowly started to calm down a bit.  For the next 30 minutes or so she still coughed up and gagged on mucus but she was breathing fairly well.  She was not happy about me taking her picture though.

This one was taken about 30 minutes after extubation - already looking better, but very worn out from being so worked up.

She decided that she didn't want to swallow her spit so she was spitting it out on a towel and letting the suction tube suck it out for a long time.  She was already starting to perk back up and even smile a bit.

Her voice is incredibly scratchy and hoarse.  Dr Prager told me that would be the case since her vocal cords have been squished so bad by the ET tube.  She doesn't like the way she sounds so she is kind of refusing to talk still at this point.

Man what a rush that was.  I'm still nervous - time will tell as the steroids wear off some, and maybe once she falls asleep, but so far so good.  I'm so excited.  I know we aren't out of the woods yet, but I am so optimistic and hopeful that even if she needs more intervention at least the worst is hopefully behind us.  It's incredible progress and so exciting.

And one final note, I know what I'll be writing on the comment card for the hospital.  This place needs a massage therapy room.  With all the incredible stress and tension over the past week, combined with sharing a pullout bed smaller than a twin mattress with Brad, my whole body is so tense and sore.  I feel like I've had a crazy physical workout and my body is achy, especially my neck and shoulders.  Yeah, a massage room would be a great addition to this place :)

September 5th will always be a special day for the Justice family.  We are always looking for a reason to have a party, but it looks like we just added a new official holiday to the books.  Well done Eden, you are truly amazing!