A Very Thankful Thanksgiving

Caili is back off the vent and doing great! Her surgery apparently went very well, and the surgeon confirmed there should be no long-term complications resulting from the ROP, or from the laser surgery that corrected it, particularly since they caught it so early. She was on the vent for nearly a full day afterward--making Lauren and me anxious beyond words--but they extubated her at 9 AM Thanksgiving morning. I can't describe the joy we felt walking into her room and seeing the ventilator sitting there beside her isolette, confirming with its lack of lights and sounds that Caili was back on the cannula. Our best Thanksgiving morning ever.

It was torture to see her back on the vent on Wednesday, and from the moment they intubated her that morning, she made it clear that she hated it just as much as we did, if not more. Prior to being put under, she was occasionally gagging, and seemingly trying to spit the tube out of her mouth. It was a sad sight to see. Her nurse said she immediately began fighting the tube again when the sedatives given to her for the surgery finally wore off, which took far longer than we were expecting. Had it not been so well taped, I suspect she would have pulled the tube out herself in the middle of the night as she did last time.

Wednesday was a stark reminder of how very lucky we are, and of exactly what to we have to be Thankful for. As we worried about Caili's relatively minor surgery and how quickly she would be able to come off the vent, another family that Lauren had recently met was saying goodbye to their beloved son Jedd, an adorable baby that came after a normal full-term pregnancy, but experienced delivery complications from which he could not recover. Jedd's family was truly inspirational in their reflections on their situation; he was here for far too short a time, but they related that he had made an impact on more people than they could have imagined, in ways that no other baby could. Count us among those he touched. I didn't have the good fortune to meet baby Jedd, yet I will never forget him or his incredibly brave parents. Good does come out of tragic events, and each day we have with our loved ones is a day to embrace, and be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.