Tube is Coming Out

So...we have a fighter.  In the good way and the bad way.  She has fought her way through three weeks of such intensity that most of us will never know, but she is fighting everything that's good too...including us.  Tonight we went in and she started to fuss.  She was given some pain medication and she fought that.  We calmed her down, but then she would wake up and throw a tantrum.  Bearing down, wailing her fists, holding her breath, etc.  We know that part of this is probably due to the steroids, which increases heart rate, blood pressure, and alertness (which makes it harder to sleep), and we're also sure this is due to her tube that she wants out.  At 10:00 she will have her second dose of steroids, after which they will extubate her.  So, hopefully by midnight tonight she will not have a tube down her throat.  

Awake and Not Cranky

Karsie looked good today.  She has been weaned to 10 bpm, which means she will be off very soon.  They are looking to give her a boost of steroids just before she goes off to help her with her breathing.  They also weaned her pain medicine to once every 12 hours instead of 8.  We'll see how that goes.  We're much happier with this plan set in place as it seems they are taking their time with taking her off the ventilator.  Last time it seemed like they were trying to power through, which is fine, but it didn't work.  We are happy that this time they are really taking their time.  

Karsie is also getting close to getting some food again.  She hadn't produced much bile and so that probably means it's close.  Patch still looks good.  When we went in we just missed the surgeon, but he said it looked good so far.  The nurse also told us that the granulation looked tougher and had a coating on it that was more than yesterday.  Signs are looking good today.