Extubation

Eli was taken off the respirator this afternoon. That was about an hour and a half ago. He's struggling quite a bit, so there's very real concern that he'll have to be re-intubated. His voice doesn't work yet, but he's constantly crying... a silent cry, but his face still shows the struggle all too well.

This is pretty hard to endure. I just want to do something, but I can't. A lot of you have made comments to us about our strength. It's now that we realize our strength was based around how well he has been doing. Now, with struggle in our face, it's not so easy to be upbeat. This isn't a life threatening situation. Worst case, they'll just have to put the respirator back in and try again another time. Still, it's agonizing to watch him struggle so much.

As I've been writing this, they took another blood-gas test, and his numbers aren't as good as they were an hour ago. They're checking oxygen levels in the blood, among other things. They also gave him some sedatives to calm him a little, and they're going to re-test his blood-gas in another 15 minutes to monitor the trend.

Please pray that God would allow Eli the strength to continue breathing on his own. Please also pray that our desires don't clash with God's plan.