He has slowly gotten stronger and stronger, so today, he decided to pull out his breathing tube. He self-extubated. He is a real self-motivated kind of person.
Play by play:
I got to the hospital about 11. Heather and I caught up, and she left around 12 to go visit the other three (THREE?!?) kids at her moms. I brought laptop and a bunch of stuff, catch up on work, etc.
About 12:30, the respiratory therapist and the nurse (Val) were doing stuff. Doing stuff meant pounding on his chest to help clear up mucus, etc. I got up to watch a little more closely, since I could see he was starting to pull on various things.
I saw him curl his devilish little fingers around a small tube that was going into his nose. This small tube had a blue cap on it. I believe it is the tube that they use to occasionally flush saline down his throat to help with mucus build up. This tube feeds into the larger breathing tube.
I said to Val "Oh, he has his hands on that tube" and I reached to grab it. Before that could happen, he pulled it out. The larger tube and the smaller tube came out of his nose. The larger tube had a 2-4" long white tube on its end. Apparently, that is what was helping him breathe.
I said "Oh! He pulled something out!"
Val said "it's okay" and then called for another nurse. By the tone in her voice, I guess everyone knew what was up, because Dr Lee and two other nurses came running in. I quickly moved out of the way, standing by the door. Dr Lee said "He self-extubated?" And then everyone knew the game was on.
Val told the respiratory therapist "grab the bag!" And then the chick didn't, so she said it again, a little more firmly "grab the BAG." Val gets stuff done. Don't mess with Val.
So, scramble-ayah, everyone doing stuff. Some nurse said "how's Dad?" But since she didn't ask me directly, I didn't answer.
They grabbed a new tube so they could quickly suction, and pulled out his feeding tube as well. They suctioned a ton of fluid out of his nose and his throat. The entire time they had him intubated, it was a little less because they were worried about his breathing, and a little more because they didn't think he could manage his airway properly. (clear his throat, swallow, etc. Science, you guys.)
Anycrap, they put a breathing bag on him, and he is doing fine. He never dips in his BPM (breathes per minute) and he handles it like a champ.
The GREAT news is they had SPRINTED him for two hours, just prior. That meant they basically turned off the functions of the breathing machine to see how he was holding up, and he did great. So, he pretty much pulled out his breathing tube at the perfect time. Because he is a baby genius. (not affiliated with the movie in any way.)
After they all calm down, they see that he is doing fine without it, so the Dr says "well, it isn't the way I would have liked it, but lets see how he handles it."
Josiah likes a challenge.
At one point, I heard Val and Dr Lee say "I'm pissed that this happened." "Yeah, me too." then…"we'll talk about it later."
I'm convinced that Josiah pulled it out himself. I SAW IT. But Val is convinced the respiratory therapist got the tube caught on something she was holding, and she pulled it out. I could tell in the way Val was talking to the respiratory therapist (who is only not named here because I don't know her name) that she was pretty peeved at her. Pretty sure that is what she wanted to talk to Dr Lee about later.
So, where are we now? Oh, right. Josiah is off the breathing tube, and they backed off his sedatives as well. He is pretty awake, but "drunk", says Val (Val has class). He may have withdrawals and need some methadone? No joke. Val doesn't joke. Other than that, they just need to suction his throat and mouth a while until he is strong enough to clear it airway on his own. They don't think they will need to re-intubate him. So thats nice.
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