Evangeline continues to do well. She has been resting comfortably both yesterday and today. We are preparing to remove the machine by giving her times of breathing on her own with the machine as a backup. They are conducting a trial right now for about an hour. So far, so good. We are planning to extubate Evangeline tomorrow morning. Every indication is that she should be ready. Her lungs are strong and breathing well on her own over the help of the machine. The inflammation which caused Evangeline’s earlier upper airway blockage has been addressed by medicine. The doctor would prefer to extubate sooner rather than later now that she has been on the machine for a week. The unsuccessful attempt on Sunday has made us justifiably more cautious, so we plan to bring her off the machine in an even gentler way. They are going to use a Bi-Pap, something similar to a C-Pap, machine to assist Evangeline once she is off the ventilator. The hope is that after twenty-four hours or so we can begin to wean off the Bi-Pap. The doctor explained that the risky part will be getting off the ventilator. Once that is successful, it is most likely just a matter of time before Evangeline will be strong enough to breath on her own without any assistance. It is too soon to tell how long that process will take. We must get through tomorrow and get her off the ventilator. We cannot know without trying if Evangeline is going to be too weak neurologically. If she cannot come off the machine tomorrow, it may be that her brain is no longer up to the task of her ever breathing on her own again bringing us back to having to make end-of-life decisions. No one thinks that is where we are, but we must acknowledge the possibility. We continue to walk in the truths that God is good, He is sovereign, and He loves Evangeline even more than we do. She is His daughter. He holds her in His very capable hand. We trust Him.
Please pray with us as we ask God to give Evangeline the strength to breathe on her own. Thank you for your continued prayers and words of encouragement.