Postponed

Well, today didn't go quite as expected. Andrew did great in last night's sprint, and they were prepared to extubate this afternoon. This morning, however, they lost his arterial line...a tiny catheter threaded up an artery in his arm. It's from this line that they routinely draw blood and continually check blood pressure. Losing the line (removing it) meant that they have to prick his heel for each blood draw...something we weren't looking forward to.

They tried to put another line in, but had problems with the insertion. First, they had to give him painkillers and paralytics to sedate him and keep him still; then they had to find a spot that hasn't been pricked yet. They tried his foot, but weren't able to get the line placed....the whole process took over an hour. When they were done, they not only had failed the procedure, but he was also knocked out and needed his ventilator rate moved up to 26 to breathe through the paralytic. They decided to postpone extubation until Saturday.

As of a few minutes ago, they were able to put a new arterial line in his arm, near his armpit. The placement is somewhat precarious, as his blood pressure measurement flatlines every time he moves his arm, but it's stable enough to draw blood for gases. His last two have been pretty good and they've been able to wean him back down to 20 breaths per minute. He's resting comfortably after being (understandably) upset most of the day. The plan is now to extubate him in the morning and keep a close eye on him for the rest of the day. That will be made easier by his new arterial line, and we hope he responds well to ditching the tube. We aren't overly optimistic, especially with the failed sprints and IV issues of the last few days, but every day he is able to remain off the ventilator is a good day.