Just a quick update to catch everyone up. Zoe was taken off the paralysis medicine on Monday, and has begun moving and looking around again. It’s very good to see her “alive” again. She is on some mild sedation to keep her from becoming too active and dislodging or extubating her breathing tube. They have begun weaning Zoe from the high ventilator settings she had during her recovery from surgery. Depending on how she does with the weaning process, they could extubate her anytime between Thursday and next Tuesday. The ENT doctor will remove the 3.5 ventilator tube, and perform another bronchoscopy to make sure the healing of the cricoid split looks ok, and that there is no blockage left in the trachea. Zoe will then be placed on the CPAP machine for breathing support (forces Zoe to breathe on her own; only provides her with pressure support to help start inflating the lungs with each breath she takes). The doctors will be able to tell within several minutes if Zoe can handle the CPAP machine. If not, they will perform a trache. Also, even if Zoe does perform well on the CPAP and is not trached, there is still the risk that at some point (even after she’s come home) she will have difficulties breathing and have to be trached at a later time. The doctors say this is typically because of the baby getting an infection; however, since she’ll be coming home in the summer months and not the winter, we have a much better chance of avoiding this.
We’ll let you know what happens next. Zoe’s around 6 lbs, 9 oz these days.
Also, thanks to everyone who’s sponsored us on the March of Dimes Walk America fund raiser – we’ve raised over $3,000 so far. The walk is on 4/24, a week from this coming Saturday.
