A day without intubation is a good day. Of course, Rafi had to wear an oxygen mask because she still requires some assistance getting enough oxygen flowing through her system. While she doesn’t love the mask, she knows it is much better than having a tube down her throat. Because she still needs a little help, we are still in the ICU, but we should be able to go back to our old room on 5D tomorrow.

Rafi has had a couple of rough days, so I would like to do something for her when she goes back to 5D. I haven’t figured out just what yet, but I’ll get there. She’s had tubes stuck down her nose to suction out her lungs and she just hates that with a passion; at times she’s had trouble breathing to the point where she has worn herself out trying to get enough air into her lungs; she’s tired herself out trying to sit up and hold her head up by herself;and, at other times, she just has not been able to get comfortable. As each hour goes by, she gets a little stronger, and a little more able. Right now, as I sit by her bedside and type this, she is not wheezing, or auto-peeping (trying to expand her lungs a little more by forcing pressure down there) and she is breathing more easily, so that is great. She also has been able to cough up her secretions so that cancels out the need for suctioning. Therefore, things are definitely looking up for the little one.

We hope now that her elevated white blood count will continue to drop, since it’s been very high. We also hope that she continues to be afebrile (without fever). These trends indicate that the infection is clearing up and should lead to a happier little Rafi in the days to come. The real big issue we are having now is withdrawal. After 8 days of intubation and a lot of sedatives and pain killers, we have to slowly scale back her dosages. We may have been a little aggressive on this earlier and she was exhibiting some signs of withdrawal. Not anymore as we got Versed back on board. The goal is to use it sparingly, as we have, but there is no reason she should have to experience a difficult transition.

This past week and a half has been an emotional roller coaster filled with lack of sleep and doubt. It’s nice to see Rafi bouncing back so well. We are thankful for the care she has gotten here and for all the support we have been given from everyone that reads this site or the updates on Facebook. Hopefully, tomorrow I will pen the update from our old room on 5D. Then I hope we will be able to go back to our apartment as a family once again in about five days.

Until tomorrow………..