Decannulation

Owen is off ECMO!!  I took him to the OR at around 1pm and the anesthesiologist  allowed me to scrub in and stay in the OR until he fell asleep.  It always works better for Owen to avoid pre-medicating him, when all he needs is his mom for reassurance.  We make a good team.  He was brave!  We sang Jingle Bells as he fell asleep and he said  our nightly goodnight routine.  "I love you, I  love you more, I love you most!"  

They were able to place two central lines in the OR.  He had developed a hematoma on his chest where the ECMO cannula was placed.  That seems to have resolved itself as well.  His heart function looks "moderately" depressed.  Not perfect, but a huge step up from "severe."   The next 24 hours will be telling so the prayers need to keep flooding in!

When he was brought up from the OR intubated, the plan was to keep him comfortable until morning.  The sedation meds were making him more and more agitated and his numbers were looking crazy. (Higher HR, high CV pressures and increased BP)  After fighting us and yelling  at us over his breathing tube, we went ahead and extubated.  The first  thing he said was  "thank you".

He is now resting comfortably.  His numbers all look perfect  and his blood gasses just came back fabulous.  His chest xray was just as pretty with crystal clear lungs.  So prayers have been answered, but we still have a long ways to go.

Owen is on many IV drips that are helping his heart along with many oral transplant medications.  The hope is to change his status to 7 (inactive) on the transplant  list if things continue progressing in this direction.  We have options and everything looks promising.  As we know..things can change in an instant.  I am on edge tonight as I am certain I have a little PTSD from the past two weeks.   Pray for a good, stable night filled with rest and healing.

I am so happy I was surrounded by my fam today.  They helped to keep my mind off things and my heart is aching to be together again.

Today was a huge success!