OMG, She's So Grounded!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011 9:45 pm

Morgan is "grounded." No television or phone for one week. Her morning went so well and we were optimistic of her retreat away from the ventilator. However, there is a story to tell...

After a relatively good morning, the UAB team decided that it was time for Morgan to move from the ventilator to the C-PAP. The optimism and the angst grew with every moment. Elizabeth went to the hospital around 11:00 am and received a very good report on our tiny princess. "The switch" was on!

After lunch, I arrived to Morgan's room to see the transformation preparations. As we cheered her on, with high hopes, the nurses worked to rearrange her equipment. The Respiratory Nurse began to rub the tape off of Morgan's face with alcohol, to remove her ventilation tube and replace it with the simple C-PAP prongs in her tiny nose. As this transpired, our sweet little diva began to turn the brightest shade of red one could imagine. She was FURIOUS! While it shouldn't be a laughing matter, it was, actually, quite hysterical. She kicked, rotated, moved her arms and if she could have found, and utilized, her middle finger, she would have used that too. The fact of the matter is that over the hour long process of trying to switch her from the ventilator to the C-PAP, she simply got too "worked up" and her lungs were just not ready to tolerate the change.

When she was finally forced onto the new therapy, she didn't last five minutes. It was obvious that she simply wasn't ready for the change. While frustrating for her parents, the doctor, quickly, tolerated the result and eased us by saying that, "this was one of the expected outcomes," and that we would try again soon. We simply wanted her to tolerate the C-PAP so that her father could offer to purchase her ventilator from UAB and beat it with a baseball bat.

The fact is that Morgan returned to the ventilator and her stats did not only return to their previous great readings, but THEY IMPROVED! THIS is why she is "grounded." We can't figure this little girl out, but she shows so much promise. She is simply working at her own pace, not ours. While this may sound like "bad news," it isn't. She is still improving and working to get well. She will simply have to learn to be a little more "results driven" as her parents have learned to be.

While there is a slight bit of disappointment that she is still on the ventilator, we are so prayerfully hopeful that our sweet Morgan is progressing. We have had so much improvement in such a short period of time that we are anxious to get her home and for all of this to be the complicated introduction to the novel of her life.

The UAB team will continue to look for signs that Morgan is ready to pitch the ventilator out the window and move on. We are waiting for her to tell us when the time is right. She is so funny in the ways she communicates. If she's happy, she lays like an angel... If she's upset, she turns so red that she's purple and her forehead crinkles. We are certain that she is not in pain and that she is working so hard to be healthy. We are so proud of our daughter.

Our most immediate prayer point is that Morgan will be able to sustain improvement without the ventilator. This is so crucial to being able to move on and start working on "her other projects." Being so premature, we have many battles to face, but none more important than her breathing. We understand that battles will come upon us after this has subsided, but it's one day at a time and every moment matters. Regardless, for the time being, she is doing well. We are proud. Continue to pray for the team at UAB that has so many watchful eyes over her well-being.

Obviously, from the light-heartedness of this update, Elizabeth and I are very pleased with Morgan's progress. We are hopeful that she will continue to make strides in the right direction. While we wish that today was the day she would never need the ventilator again, keep in mind that once she returned to it, she still improved.

We so wish that we could invite all of you into her room to see her with your own eyes. Believe me, she is so precious and so peaceful. She kick-starts my heart with every wiggle. She tells me that I will lose at least twenty pounds when I have to chase her around the neighborhood. We are so thankful to have her and we are dreaming of having her home, as we will, relatively soon.

We can not stress our thanks for your thoughts and prayers for our daughter. As you can tell, she is so treasured by us and so many of you.

Seth and Elizabeth McCoin