Procedure Is In Progress

Elias just went down to the OR for his procedure. They will start with dilation of the esophagus and then put his feeding tube back in. While they are in they are also going to do another bronchoscopy to check how things are doing in the trachea, particularly the granulation tissue. This will serve as another bit if information for the doctors to use with the extubation.

On the subject of extubation, we are hearing that old familiar tune, something has come between us and removing that darn tube. There is a slight, slight chance that they will try tomorrow, given of course the bronchoscopy doesn't show evidence to make them think he will fail. However, as we have said before, they do not seem to like to do things like this just before the weekend. With this being a holiday weekend it shortens the week so we are not holding our breath (no pun intended) that he will be extubated before Monday. It would be wonderful if they do, but do not expect it. Elias is so ready for the tube to be out. He kept reaching up and trying to grab it. He did successfully detach the connector between his trachea tube and the hose once today. He was very cranky and fussy. He could not get comfortable at all, even with mommy and daddy trying to soothe him. The rain forest soother helped some, but was not nearly as effective as Sunday. It is very hard to watch him when he is like this. We feel helpless, but know that it would be worse if we were not there with him. That thought helps, but it isn't enough.

We will update again later tonight after Elias returns from the OR and we get the report on the procedure results. Thank you all for checking in.