One hurdle down umpteen more to go

ok! the coming off of ecmo went pretty smooth.

there was some business about his heart not pumping enough fluid, so they had to give him a whole bunch, but then that made his lungs get a little worse, temporarily anyway. and then he was bleeding quite a bit in the spot where they removed the canulas that connected him to the ecmo. he was still not able to clot completely on his own because of that heperin (anti-clotting) medicine had not worked its way out of his system... all this stuff.

BUT! he seems to be doing pretty well, now. he stopped bleeding. his lungs seem to be looking even better. he's on 45% O2 (we're normally on 20% oxygen breathing air) on the ventillator. he's getting this nitric oxide blown into his lungs which dilates his airways. the nurse said it would be really nice to get him off of this stuff. then to get off of the ventillator. then to wake him up.....

one step (hurdle) at a time. so here we are: off of the ECMO!

phew.

next, please.

i'm so proud of my little boy. keep up the good work. :-)