6/10/11

Max had his bronchoscopy today. They noted some swelling in his airway and gave us two choices.
#1 leave him extubated and give him a day or two of I.V. steroids. We have been trying to avoid the systemic steroids because of the muscle enlarging effects they have on his heart.
#2 give him localized steroids injected directly in the airway. He would then have to be re-intubated because the injections would initially cause an increase in the swelling of the airway. Then wait for the swelling to go down and attempt extubation again in a few days.

Doug and I chose #1, with the approval of the cardiologists. we felt that keeping him extubated was his best chance, and since the heart surgery the muscles in his heart have not had to work as hard as previously, so hopefully a few days of steroids won't have an adverse affect on him.

So right now we are sitting and anxiously watching him. He's doing well, the trick is keeping his temper down. We're trying to keep him as drugged up as possible without loosing his drive to breath. So far so good. His saturation levels look good!

We would really like for them to move us back to the NICU, we're currently in the PICU. The atmosphere of the NICU is better, cozier and such. Right now we are both just very frustrated with our doctor, we feel like he is really pushing for Max to get a Trach, which we are adamantly against. In the NICU the doctors and nurses are more familiar with Max, his temper, and Doug and I. We would be more comfortable there, right now I don't want to leave him alone.
But if we can make it through the next few days without having to put a breathing tube back in, we should be in the clear....maybe then we can go back to the NICU until discharge. We have a fabulous primary nurse in the NICU, Becky, and several others that know Max well. I would feel comfortable going back to work in the mornings if he were with them while we were gone.