Today was a full day for Erica. She's completely off oxygen and doing well. She's still getting respiratory treatments, which means they put a mask on her face and it gives her an extra dose of air when she breathes in. They do this for 80 breaths every 4 hours. It is so her lungs get a bit more expansion, since she's not doing anything aerobic, so her lungs don't get lazy and stiff. She hates it, but she's gaining good strength fighting back. Erica's personality is coming back, and she's fighting the nurses at every turn. But they're all glad to see that she has some spunk now.
PT put her in a wheelchair and took her outside. Erica was very glad to do that. She still had trouble holding her head up, but her arms are definitely getting stronger. The PT sat with her and sang itsy-bitsy spider and wheels on the bus while Erica did the hand motions as well. OT worked with her on rolling over and sitting up. She was able to do it with a lot of help, but she's definitely putting forth some effort.
The doctors are anxious to get her out of PICU and onto a regular floor, especially since the PICU is full. But she's still having difficulty with managing her saliva and has to be suctioned often enough that they aren't ready to move her yet. But she was better tonight than she was this morning, so she's definitely improving. Speech came to see how well she could swallow, and she had difficulty in swallowing some ice chips (well, not the chips, but the water). So still a lot to work towards there. But we made great progress today and Erica worked hard. We're proud of her.
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