A Little Set Back

Today we had a little scare. We came into the hospital with the expectation of finally getting to hold him because of his chest tubes being removed today and instead we go two steps backwards with a hiccup. Lincoln had his chest tubes removed today. While removing one of his chest tubes, air got sucked up into the chest from the hole the tube was in. Air overtook the space where his right lung is (this is called a Tension Pneumothorax) . This collapsed his right lung sending him into distress. They did a less invasive procedure to remove the air by inserting a small needle attached to a syringe into the chest. They drew back almost 300 cc's of air out of his chest cavity. After taking a chest x-ray, at appeared that the needle aspiration procedure worked, re-inflating his lung. After waiting about 20 min, Lincoln started getting pale and having difficulty breathing again. After taking another chest x-ray, they saw that his right lung had collapsed again. This was because the original site where the chest tube was was not completely sealed by the bandage allowing air to come back in. This time they realized in order to get the air completely out, they couldn't do a needle aspiration. They would need to reinsert a new chest tube in a new location and suture the old chest tube hole where the air was coming in. As soon as they did that procedure the air came out of the new chest tube and his lung re-inflated and his color came back to him. Unfortunately this happenes sometimes when removing those darn tubes. So now he has all three of the old chest tubes out and one new one in back in. However, this new chest tube is only in to keep any air that might accumulate out of his chest (plural space) that does not belong and should only be in for about 24 hrs. Tonight he is still getting a little help breathing with a nasal canula. This is giving him a little oxygen boost because his lungs are trying to recover. They will slowly wean the oxygen down over night to where he is breathing well on his own again. He is very heavily sedated and should rest without any more issues tonight....but he is not out of the woods yet. This also means they had to put his feedings on hold until tomorrow. Because of the issue today...fluid built up on his lungs (pulmonary adema) and they need to get that off of him for him to breath easier. Please pray that his lungs can recover fully, no more air leaking back in, that this would not create any additional problems with breathing, the new chest tube removal goes smooth, water comes off of his lungs, he can start feeding again soon, and we can hold him soon. Oh yeah...as they inserted the new chest tube, a little Chylo fluid appeared in the tube...please continue to pray for that healing otherwise we will have to have that tube in longer. Thank for your steadfast prayers...we will give you an update ASAP. We love you all! J&K