Continued Improvement

Elias is having another good day. He is almost back to his baseline condition...Thank God!! They have got him on room air again for his oxygen levels and a rate of 28 on the vent (the rate is how many breaths each minute the vent will give). He is breathing over the vent most of the time in the 40's, but he does seem to let the vent do the work when he is in the deep part of his sleep. This morning when he woke up he was ready to play. It took us all [mom, dad, nurse, & social worker] to figure out he wasn't being fussy or agitated, he simply was bored and wanted some playtime!! How wonderful. He has been very happy to move around again, and boy is he doing just that. Those arms and legs are just kicking and swinging, he is having a good old time. He has also learned to knock off his vent connection. He thinks its funny because he smiles almost every time he does it. Yup, he is a character and God knows we love it!! We asked about the pneumonia and its progression in terms of healing. They have not seen the latest x-rays from this morning yet, but clinically he is showing good improvement. This certainly is helping us sleep much better at night.

Dr. Stuart, Elias' Pediatric Surgeon came by today to look at everything. He said it all looked good and was healing nicely. He told us that he wants to get the OG tube out of his mouth and move it either to NG (through the nose) or place just a silk suture line to help keep the path in the esophagus available. He also wants to do another dilation. He has not decided how soon, but it will probably be in the next 2 weeks. A lot depends on the G-tube healing, because he would like to put a scope in to check placement while they have Elias in the OR. They are trying to group procedures together to minimize risks with anesthesia and complications.