Rough Twenty Four Hours

Deb and I have had a sleepless night. Gracie did not do well on the trach and continued to have respiratory distress. Finally at about 4 a.m. they gave us a call and told us she needed more ventilator support. At noon today she still did not look good. Very flat, not a lot of response and a little limp. We were pretty worried, especially since the PICU team weren't very sure why she was responding so poorly. After all, the trach was supposed to be the answer to her breathing problems. Early this afternoon the ENT surgeon came by to change the trach for the first time. Finally, after 4 days we were allowed to hold her. Deb cradled her all afternoon and by the time I got to the hospital after work she looked a lot better. Much more alert and much more like our little girl. Sometimes it just takes a mother's love.

Grace will stay on the vent settings probably for another day, and then hopefully we will be able to wean her from the vent. Still a long way to go, but every glimmer of improvement renews our ability to get off the canvas and fight another round.