Extubated

The good news today is that Eric was extubated around noon. But he's not exactly flying like we'd like him to. Since extubation, he's been struggling pretty hard. He's on a simple face mask, and his SaO2 is high 90s. His PCO2 is 80-something, but his pH is 7.31, so he's compensating and the doctors aren't concerned. But he's working really hard. Right now (4:30 pm) he's sleeping, and even asleep, he's short of breath. We had a very frank talk with the cardio-thoracic surgeon this afternoon, a Dr. Salazar. He took a lot of time and explained the situation, somewhat. Truth is, he's not exactly sure where things are going right now with these lung leaks. They're a very serious problem. Best case scenario would be if Eric could remain off the ventilator, and the leaks could close on their own. Both those events are long shots. If he has to be re-intubated, the chance of them closing without surgery are nil. Even extubated, who knows. I'm usually optimistic, but sometimes I'm realistic also. And I don't feel hopeful. I hope I'm wrong. If the leaks don't close, Eric will require surgery, but the surgeon would surely prefer not to. He says he'd have to take out more lung. Eric may be left with only one lobe on each side. Even if the leaks do close on their own, Eric may still require surgery of his lungs don't expand more. This is all such a disaster. I can't imagine how he'll ever play soccer, play trumpet, all these things he loves, ever again, if indeed, he even survives. The surgeon says we're at a crossroads. And he's on board with doing whatever needs to be done.

So, prayer warriors, we need to pray like never before. We need more miracles. Eric needs those leaks to close. He needs his lungs to expand. I don't know what else to say. Except that I thank you all.