Not Today

Amacker's respiratory test this morning went better than yesterday's, but not good enough to remove her breathing tubes. The plan is to try again each morning until she's ready. Each time she will gain a little strength and be a little healthier, until at last she does it all on her own.

The process for testing her is a bit complicated. At midnight they stop giving her food through the tubes. Then they slowly reduce her sedation through the wee hours of the morning. And then around 6 in the morning they reduce the settings on her breathing apparatus to almost nothing and see how she reacts. They let her try for a few minutes, and if things don't go well they turn everything back on, including the sedation.

One effect of this method was that this morning when we went to see her at 10AM, Amacker was in that distant place again. She didn't seem to focus or respond to us as much. I imagine that she is most aware early in the morning right before they give her the test, but we're not allowed to be with her then.

So we wait...

The picture is from Dad's and Amacker's trip to Paris last October.