Day 82: Belated

Aerin is still improving. Her settings on the ventilator are being turned down slowly, with an eye toward extubation on Monday. If she gets the tube out and does well, she's probably looking at 4-7 more days in the hospital. Among other things, she has to get back to full bottle feeds, and that takes time. There are "signs" that her illness is subsiding; she seems to be coughing less, and her secretions have decreased. Yesterday, she was getting suction every couple of hours, rather than every hour.