It's like driving down the interstate looking through a soda straw...

That's exactly what it's  been like since the weekend. You're going fast, but have little idea of what's around the corner. Even though Lana has been back on CPAP since Sunday morning, she has continued to show signs of respiratory distress. Her oxygen needs have kept creeping up until it finally hit a tipping point earlier today. She went from requiring 38% FiO2 all way up to 70% FiO2. This represents the percentage of oxygen needed to maintain adequate organ function (in contrast, we typically require 21%, which is considered room air).

Therefore, the decision was made to place her back on the ventilator to give her some rest and let the vent take over the job of breathing. In addition, they ordered for her to receive inhaled nitric oxide (iNO), to hopefully alleviate her pulmonary hypertension and thus increase her oxygen saturation. There's actually an eerie feeling seeing Lana back on the ventilator. This feels like week 1 all over again. Coincidentally, they gave us new wristbands since the one's we had are falling to smithereens. Also, today marks her second month of life (she was born on August 14th) .One can't help but feel like we're back at square one...

It goes without saying that we are hoping she will respond to this treatment and get back on the right track. We know she's been through a lot but we will continue to pray for her health and support her in any way possible.