That's My Girl

So, as one might imagine, being awoken in the dead of night in PICU by a screeching alarm can be rather rattling.. which is what happend to us this morning. Once awoken, we were shocked to see the respiratory therapist standing over our now flailing child yelling for help out into the nurse's area. At the time, we weren't aware of what was going on or how severe it may be, so we stood clear of the medical staff off to a corner before we were escorted out to a "waiting area".

Was she breathing?

Did her lungs collapse?

My God. Is she still alive?

All of these questions and more, running through our minds. We didn't say much to each other, my wife and I. We just sat in the waiting area staring at the walls with empty eyes and minds full of possibilities.. waiting. Just, waiting, for someone to come in and deliver us news -- good, bad. Something.

After about half an hour, the doctor on-call came in and explained what had happened. As it turns out, Alyssa decided that she had had enough of the ventilator and decided to self-extubate (she pulled out her breathing tube) -- all while sedated. All in all, the incident wasn't very severe -- in fact, she surprised everyone by actually breathing on her own for a few breaths before they re-intubated her (all without issue, thankfully!)

So, as a father, this just makes me proud. My daughter, with enough sedation in her veins to bring down a rhino, was able to reach up and yank out her breathing tube -- and breathe on her own. 

This just reaffirms in my mind that she's strong, a fighter, and she's going to be just fine...