Flashback Friday

This is Virginia just 7 months ago on the day that she was first extubated. Aside from her first few days of life, I don't think I have ever been so scared and then so devastated. Her lung condition was becoming critical and I knew all too well that she needed to come off the vent very soon in order to avoid some pretty scary interventions.

She did have to be reintubated, but just a week later we were lucky to have Yale's famously ventilator aggressive neonatologist as her attending physician. He had a plan for her and she followed the plan. She often teetered off track but always seemed to find her way back. Many of her nurses and even I thought it may be too soon. She was having problems with fluid retention, was requiring a high percentage of oxygen, and her chest X-rays were getting more and more concerning. Her attending stuck to his plan and primed her in such a precise manner to get her off the vent. There was lasix, blood transfusions, nebulizers, and chest therapy. She came off the ventilator that next week and never looked back.

True to form she continues to do things when she is ready to do them.