I think I can...

Early this morning, Hudson went back to OR for another broncoscopy to reassess the healing of his trachea/bronchi. Dr. Forbess (cardiothoracic surgeon) and Dr. Lee (ENT) both felt that the airway looked good but the right bronchi (the side that was very narrow that was widened) was still quite swollen and was catching a lot of secretions so they cleaned it out and want to leave him on the ventilator a couple of more days until his lungs are a bit stronger. They assess his lungs by pressures, etc on the ventilator as well as physical exertion with breathing and all seem to be improving....it's just taking sometime. He is off the continuous drip of narcotics and now just on methadone and valium...so snoozing quite a bit!! Each day he has had a couple of hours of alertness where he and mommy practice his sucking with his green paci...and he is loving that!! They are maximizing his calorie intake so that he can be as strong as possible for breathing on his own..so he may be quite the chunker when we leave here...but that's just more loving for mommy and daddy! The latest plan is to go back into the OR on Monday to try and extubate him if they feel he is ready...that way he can be extubated under a controlled environment and they will have the ENT physician on hand with the scope equipment if neccessary...that way if he needs to be reintubated it can be done with as little trauma as possible.....wonderful idea!!