Brigham's Busy Day

I mentioned in this morning's post that Brigham had developed a pleural effusion (fluid build-up around the lungs).

This afternoon, they did the procedure to drain the fluid. It was technically a surgical procedure, but it didn't take very long. They drained about an ounce and a half of fluid from his chest and we were all very thankful that it wasn't blood (something they were worried it might be).

We were sitting right out in the hall during the procedure and one of the doctors came out when they were done draining fluid and said he could already see on the ultrasound that the heart was contracting easier and better. Yeah!

They inserted a new chest tube to make sure any "leftover" drainage was able to get out of the chest. So the tube count is back up to nine.

(1) chest tube
(2) ECMO cannulas
(1) breathing tube
(1) tube for stomach suction
(2) hand/foot IV's
(1) umbilical IV
(1) urinary catheter

*I don't think I mentioned that they switched out his ECMO circuit AGAIN yesterday. Fourth time's the charm?....*

Anyways, back to today. Right after the procedure, they did a chest xray to check the placement of the chest tube. The doctor was pleased to be able to report that not only was the chest tube in great position, the right lung showed a few tiny "air streaks". This means it's finally getting a little bit of air in! Hopefully it continues to inflate well and the chest xrays and echos will look good, and the PPHN will go down!
We're on a momentary roller coaster up, and we're all praying for the best. Remember, things can change by the hour. In the next 2-3 days we should know whether or not his lungs will be able to recover from their stunted development.