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After 10 days or so,
we were told that Imogen would have to come off the high frequency
ventilator as a prolonged period on it could cause damage to her
lung and she had already been on it for too long. This method of
ventilation is short but quick vents of oxygen as opposed to slow
long vents as in our normal breathing pattern. The result was
easily visible with Imogen’s chest vibrating before our eyes.
Taking her off this and on to a conventional ventilator was a risk
in itself. This procedure would mean being unhooked and plugged
back into another taking precious time that could mean survival or
not. On being hooked up to the new ventilator, it was also unknown
territory as to how Imogen’s respiration would cope. Dr. Greenhough
was the man responsible on the day and for him too was
uncertainty.
To our delight,
Imogen coped well with the procedure far better than her parents.
To see her breathing pattern go from erratic to gentle respiration
looked so much more comfortable and natural. Imogen was to stay on
this ventilator for a further 3 months. Over the weekend, Imogen
started to impress us on the new ventilator giving us fresh hopes.
Her oxygen requirements were turned down as her saturations stayed
reasonably high. We all had a good few days before a particularly
bad night whereby Imogen hit a new low in health.
Back in our room, we
were woken in the early hours by the nurse responsible for her
care throughout the night. Through bleary eyes, we opened the door
to be told that Imogen was far from well having had a very
unstable night. We were advised to come and see her as she was not
expected to pull through from this. We were absolutely
inconsolable and at our lowest point of optimism since she was
born. On seeing her, she looked no different to the previous
evening but on seeing her figures on the monitor, we realised this
was likely to be her last hours.
Imogen’s saturations
were seriously low and back on maximum ventilation. Considering
the amount of time she had been like this it was likely that
should she by a miracle pull through, her brain may have been
oxygen starved for too long. A nurse offered to get a big comfy
chair and suggested we should have our first ever hold of her and
let time take over. With a degree of reluctance we agreed. To this
day, I don’t know what happened to the chair, but it never
arrived. Who did arrive though were the morning doctors along with
Dr. McKinnon. He suggested how well she had done and we had no
choice but to agree. Imogen was now over two weeks old and had
given us much more than first expected.
The doctor explained that
should her heart stop, that he could massage her heart to revive
her. Lindsey and I were both of the opinion that should this be
the case then it was a sure sign of fate and that we would be
grateful for our two weeks with her and to let her go. This was no
easy decision. We are so glad that her heart never gave up.
Another doctor who had spent time with her over the weekend was
somewhat puzzled as to her sudden deterioration after such a good
few days. It was decided that one last chest x-ray should be done
but it was thought that this may not give us any hope. |
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