Results From Today

Elias has completed his procedures and is resting comfortably. The dilation was a success, and was done very conservatively. The surgeon told us "I was a little wimpy doing it." This was to ensure there would be no damage to the tissue and repair. He will more than likely have another dilation procedure or two down the road. They were also able to get the feeding tube positioned past the stomach again. He should resume his feeds overnight.

As for the bronchoscopy, there was still a significant amount of granulation tissue blocking the bottom of his trachea. The surgeon was unable to say if it was more or less than the previous bronchoscopy a month ago. He was going to review the videos to make that determination. We might hear results on that tomorrow. We are not 100% certain how this will sway the decision for extubation. It is very possible, as we mentioned before, that they will want to wait until Monday to even make a decision. So pray extra hard, but it does not look promising for tomorrow. I think the look on the NICU attending doctor's face late this afternoon foretold this fate. Let's just say that when he came in and saw Elias still in his room, waiting to go for his procedure, he did not have a very satisfied look upon his face. It was not a very happy face, and his disappointment and dismay was certainly evident. It was almost like I could read his mind; "Well, so much for tomorrow."