The way it worked was they disconnected Bryce's ventilator from his ET tube and then put a plastic bubble over his head. They pumped oxygen into the "hood" and waited to see if he immediately began to go down on how well he oxygenated his blood or not. He did not. This means that his lungs are not the issue, his airway is.
As you can see in the short video of the trial below, Bryce barely even noticed his ventilator had been taken away...
Unfortunately though, this means Bryce will be making another trip down to the OR on Tuesday to have an ENT scope all the way down his airway into his trachea both with and without his ET tube. Removing his ET tube is always risky because if they can't get him re-intubated when they need to he cannot breathe.
There are several ways this could end up on Tuesday. The ENT may see some extra fleshy skin in Bryce's airway that can be removed and help him to clear his airway to breathe without the ventilator. Or the ENT may see that there is substantial swelling of his airway due to being intubated for so long and send him back to the NICU to try a course of steroids to extubate him. Or there may be scar tissue or some other physical obstruction that only Bryce's growth will solve, in which case we will have a serious conversation with all of his doctors about a tracheotomy. There is also a small chance that something will either happen or be seen on Tuesday during the scope that will necessitate a tracheotomy be done right then.
With each of these possible outcomes on Tuesday comes a plethora of other possible outcomes as well in regards to how soon Bryce may be able to go home and what kind of care he may need when he does go home.
It's too much what if to go into here but needless to say we wait with baited breath.
Ultimately, we can honestly say that whatever is best for Bryce is what we want. If that means we live at the hospital for another year or that means we take him home in a month or two with a tracheotomy, ventilator and feeding tube than so be it.
It's funny how the second you have children your life ceases to be about you at all but completely about them. And even funnier how little we mind.
Here's Bryce sitting up today (with a little assistance) while he gets his CPT to help clear the pneumonia junk from his lungs. Yes, that hand is smacking him. That's his RT breaking up the secretions so they can suction them out. He usually loves it, as you can see by the look on his face here.
There are several ways this could end up on Tuesday. The ENT may see some extra fleshy skin in Bryce's airway that can be removed and help him to clear his airway to breathe without the ventilator. Or the ENT may see that there is substantial swelling of his airway due to being intubated for so long and send him back to the NICU to try a course of steroids to extubate him. Or there may be scar tissue or some other physical obstruction that only Bryce's growth will solve, in which case we will have a serious conversation with all of his doctors about a tracheotomy. There is also a small chance that something will either happen or be seen on Tuesday during the scope that will necessitate a tracheotomy be done right then.
With each of these possible outcomes on Tuesday comes a plethora of other possible outcomes as well in regards to how soon Bryce may be able to go home and what kind of care he may need when he does go home.
It's too much what if to go into here but needless to say we wait with baited breath.
Ultimately, we can honestly say that whatever is best for Bryce is what we want. If that means we live at the hospital for another year or that means we take him home in a month or two with a tracheotomy, ventilator and feeding tube than so be it.
It's funny how the second you have children your life ceases to be about you at all but completely about them. And even funnier how little we mind.
Here's Bryce sitting up today (with a little assistance) while he gets his CPT to help clear the pneumonia junk from his lungs. Yes, that hand is smacking him. That's his RT breaking up the secretions so they can suction them out. He usually loves it, as you can see by the look on his face here.