Surgery Day #11

Sorry I didn't get a chance to finish an entry yesterday. The picture below is my excuse- my little pic of heaven:) Henry had a fair day yesterday. Henry is still off the vent and just on BiPAP since Thursday. They started with "BiPAP breaks" every three hours with a goal of up to one hour off breathing assistance. The breaks are intended to help Henry work up to less and less dependence on the BiPAP with the goal of no assistance. The breaks are intended to build up his tolerance/strength in order to do so. The mask you see below is his BiPAP mask- quite a fancy contraption. Henry started well with these breaks early in the day, though progressively continued to struggle more and more as the day went on. When Henry struggles you can see that his chest muscles strain with each breath- like he's just run a sprint for the playground (which is what it probably feels like to him inside). We will continue to see how these "breaks" go throughout the weekend and readdress the need for re-intubation/surgery on Monday. Hopefully our progress/struggles will help the providers develop a good plan for Henry to help him along with his pulmonary journey!

Some good news - they did an Echo on Henry yesterday and his heart received glowing reviews! A little leak around his VSD patch, though the providers say this usually closes on it's own and won't be problematic.

So, as always, we're celebrating the good news and helping Henry through the struggles. Thanks again for all the prayers/thoughts. We appreciate and know they are helping Henry along during his recovery.


Much love,


Kate and Julie