Overnight, Max was very unstable and fought the ventilator hard, so much so that they had to heavily sedate him – basically paralyse him – to allow the ventilator to work. So, Dr Scott decided it was time to try extubation. This was a huge step, and I was so afraid of it not working. It’s only 3 days since major surgery.
However, he went really well on the resuscitation mask, and eventually settled (vaguely) onto CPAP. I went home. After about 5-6 hours, though, he was tiring, and his blood gases weren’t good, so back on the ventilator he went. It was a good try, but Scott thinks the steroids they gave him before extubation (to give his lungs an extra boost of healing) probably hadn’t truly kicked in, and so weren’t at their peak benefit.
Now the debate will begin anew as to when to try again.
Picture of Max with his big wound from his heart operation. (taken 1 January)
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