Bye-bye Ventilator

Rebekah had a good night of resting. She was very sleepy and didn't show a lot of signs of wanting to get the vent off. At this morning's update from her nurse, they still had not removed the ventilator. But when we finally, after lots of chores this morning, got here, she had just had the ventilator removed! Right now Rebekah has a nasal cannula with constant air pressure through her airways, but no oxygen! She is much more alert and awake today, and everyone is very pleased with her progress.

Rebekah's occupational therapist came by today and now we are working on the beginning exercises to get Rebekah ready to eat by mouth. We are still quite a ways from that goal, but the exercises we do now will help get her ready to eat.

It seemed that Rebekah was a little uncomfortable around lunch time today, so she just received a small dose of morphine in her feeding tube. Because she tends to be extra sensitive to medication, the doctors chose to give her the oral medication rather than through IV. It has a slower release over a longer period of time, so the doctors thought it would be a better option for her.

Otherwise we are just hanging out with Rebekah today. In the last two days, there have been several OR cases, so we have been limited somewhat in the time we can be with Rebekah. The staff clears the unit of visitors when a patient comes back from the OR until they can get the patient settled. Please remember another family in your prayers - both of their boys (1 and 2 years old) had open heart surgery yesterday and are recovering.

We did get some pictures this afternoon of our little girl, so we will try to get them posted tonight. We are so pleased with Rebekah's progress! :)

Nancy