While a lot of big things have happened in the last few days, on the surface recovery remains slow, but with progress. On Monday, the doctors felt ready to remove Judah from ECMO, the bypass machine that had been acting as his heart and lungs. They began by slowly turning the machine down to see how Judah’s own organs would take over, and finally were able to turn the machine off completely and let him regain full control of his heart.
Following removal from the ECMO circuit, the doctors, and mommy and daddy, felt Judah should spend a couple of days just resting and recovering before they wanted to try to take him off the breathing tube ventilation. This morning just before noon, the doctors tested turning the ventilator machine down to see how Judah’s own lungs would pick up, and they felt comfortable removing the breathing tube and letting him breath on his own, with the assistance of a high flow nasal cannula.
He has spent most of his time over the last week being completely sedated, and on a pretty crazy cocktail of drugs to keep him comfortable. Now that he is off ECMO, and the breathing tube is out, the nurses and doctors will begin to wean him off some of the heavier sedatives. They’ve increased and adjusted some of his other medications to help settle his heart rate and attempt to prevent further arrhythmias.
Over the last week, and especially while he was on and just coming off ECMO, the doctors have been performing a number of tests and scans to measure blood activity and brain function. Brain ultrasounds, x-rays, EKGs, EEGs, Echocardiograms, CT scans, and plenty more. So far the initial results all look very clear and good, and show no signs of bleeding in the brain or damage to the brain. While the full extent will take a while to know, Judah looks good. He has been able to move all of his extremities, he looks around and seems to focus on things, and definitely responds when mommy and daddy are near.
Recovery from this incident moves forward, and while he is still considered in critical condition, at this point we know our little Judah needs extra time to recover from surgeries and procedures. We are willing to take it as slow as he needs, and know that he will continue to progress in the right direction. Thank you all for your love and thoughts, and we know you will continue to think about and pray for us.
all our love
J-N-J
I think it would be fair to say that those are good news and it will only get better from now on. I can’t wait to hear that you are bringing him home so we can come and hold him, maybe even kiss him if we will be allowed. We just pray for Judah every time we have a chans. We love you all very much and miss you!
Love Rema, Marina, Myron and Gary