The Fourth Extubation

I don't really have anything interesting to say about the 4th of July in regards to Seven. We kept him sedated so he had lots of energy for our planned extubation on Sunday. When we came in this morning Seven was rested, off the sedation, and looking strong and ready to be extubated. The doctor gave him a once over, wrote orders, and gave us the word to get started.

We pulled the tube, gave him some breathing treatments, put him on Low Flow (it has a nasal cannula with warm humidified air pushing in) and watched and waiting.

He acted mildly irritated, flailing his arms around and grabbing at tubes, which is an expected but good sign. He eventually settled down thanks to Jarrad having just the right touch.

The neurologist was here yesterday looking to get a glimpse of Seven's movements in his new state. When he came by Seven was completely zonked from sedation. We told him about Seven's active periods and he wanted to see them for himself. We made an "appointment" for him to come by this morning when Seven would be off the sedatives. Unfortunately, he missed the commotion and came in 45 minutes later while Seven was resting comfortably, with his body extremely relaxed. He was pleasantly surprised that Seven wasn't demonstrating some muscle tension that is typically seen with white matter on the brain stem, though. He will continue to follow Seven during his visit.

Seven had considerably less secretions today than in previous days. And as that was what we were worried about holding Seven back, we are extremely excited. He was awake off and on, and was suctioned every hour or so. He started whipping out some cute moves from home like sleeping with his arm up next to his head and with his binky hanging out of his mouth. The nurses came by to ooh and ahh at him. It's nice to hear his voice again. He complained a little and then even let out a little sigh. We're going home now for the evening and hoping for the best. He seems like a different kid than the last time we did this, but with Seven you never really know what he has planned. Lets all cross our fingers!