Day 13: April 19, 2012

Day 13                                                                                                    Written Apr 19, 2012 5:08pm

Last night was a difficult night for Dallas; they had to gradually lower his medications so that they could remove his breathing tube today. At 1pm, they removed his breathing tube, though it was scheduled for an earlier time. The doctors slowly decreased his respiration that the ventilator was pushing out for him to breath until he was breathing on his own (with the tube still in). Once they assessed that he was able to handle breathing on his own, they took the tube out.

The removal went well, it only took a few minutes. Afterwards, they gave him a breathing treatment and he did well. His voice is very raspy, and he is having difficulty breathing; they explained that his throat was irritated but not swollen, so that is a good sign.

Dallas is breathing without the nasal oxygen tubes, just his blue blow-by tube, which is great.

Shortly after removing the breathing tube, and allowing him to rest, they did his dressing change. This time, they allowed Travis to stay in the room for the changing. Since being in PICU, we have had to leave the room whenever they changed his dressings; but since Dallas is so responsive to Travis, they allowed him to stay in the room to keep him clam. He did pretty well through all of that.

Travis has said that there are many parts of his body healing very well. We are optimistic that there will be parts that will not require grafting that they originally felt would need to be grafted.

They have restarted his feeds, which they had to turn off early this morning before taking the breathing tube out. So now he is beginning to get his nutrition again, hopefully this will not only satisfy his hunger, but will promote faster healing due to the increased amounts of protein added in.

After the removal of the breathing tube, Dallas was very lethargic and having difficulty talking and doing other things. However, throughout the day, he has begun to become more independent. He has started brushing his teeth with a swab from the mouth cleaning kit they use here, he has eaten ice, as well as being able to talk better, and moving different body parts.

It is wonderful to see his independent spirit showing through, the fight and will power that we all know he possesses is back. Knowing that he bounced back this quickly in a matter of hours is a wonderful feeling of reassurance.

Dallas' surgery is still scheduled for Monday to begin the grafting process, however, the time has not yet been set.

Please continue to pray for this brave little boy! There are people praying from all around the world for him, and the power of prayer is amazing! Please keep him in your thoughts. We are all very appreciative for the help and support that he, as well as we, are receiving.