Thursday, July 9th - Update

Mom update!

She is doing great in the ICU. They are prepping everything to get her ready for home. The anticipated date is the week of the 20th. We are working on getting a ventilator for home so she can use it at night. The current plan is to have mom come home with the trach and use oxygen during the day and rest on the ventilator at night. They have been discussing downsizing her trach but think they will decide against it. They have been trialing using room air (the normal concentration of 21% oxygen) but so far she needs more concentrated oxygen (35%). She will need to be able to stay saturated and stable on room air before coming home. 

She has been getting a lot stronger and using the passing air valve to talk. They did a swallow test today to see if mom could have liquids but unfortunately she failed. They will retest in a week. The speech pathologist thinks that if mom keeps on talking and practicing the muscles will strengthen over time. The ENT team will be consulting as well. Mom is looking forward to sipping her celebratory lemonade once she is cleared.