Look Mom, No Tube! - Recovery Day Five (2/6)

After much debate, and back and forth, Sloan is finally breathing tube free!  They pulled out the tube around 9:30pm.  She had a great night last night where her nurse, Sue, sprinted her on the breathing tube a few times to see how she would take it.  Sprinting is when they cut off the breathing tube and have them breath on their own through the tube without any assistance.  Each time they sprinted Sloan she did really well.  When we arrived this morning she continued to do well and during morning rounds they discussed removing her tube after a few more sprints.  When the time came to actually remove the tube the doctors were tending to another patient so Sloan had to wait for a bit. During that time she decided to plunge with her stats.  This scared off the doctors from moving forward so we thought we wouldn't end up where we did today.  However, when our night nurse, who happened to be Sue again, came on and the overnight fellow came on they decided that maybe the tube was what is bothering Sloan and if they were to get it out she'd do better.  So they sprinted her one last time, she excelled and the tube was pulled!  She's been doing really well since then and hopefully this will continue through the night.  As you can see, she's quite swollen...but very happy to be tube free!

Mimi and Poppy, my parents, also came up today with Drake.  It was so nice to see all of them, especially since Sloan was doing so well again today.  They even got to see her try and open her eyes and move around (now that's she is off sedation).  

Another big step today in our recovery journey.  Praying for a good night where she can remain off the breathing tube and her nurse, Sue, can start to ween her off her oxygen and possibly some of her meds. Finally feeling like we are making some strides!