Kaden is off ECMO

Mr. KADEN ALEX KUEHL---Canula Free

Wow...what a stressfull two days. This morning we checked out of our hotel room and hurried to the hospital to see how Kaden was doing. Today was the big day....coming off ECMO. When we arrived, Kaden's stats were not doing so well. I went over to Kaden's bedside and told him how much his daddy and mommy love him, and how much so many other people love him and are praying for him to do well today. I told Kaden to be strong and that he could get though this day. I told him that daddy was sooo proud of him.

We sat around in the NICU all morning. They began to trail Kaden off ECMO at around 10:30am. He seemed to do very well, so we made the decision to get Kaden off the "Bloody Beast". The surgeons had a very busy day and scheduled Kaden to get his surgery at around 4:00pm to get that nasty canula out of his neck. Kaden was stable, so we took an hour to go downstairs and get some lunch.

We had lunch with Tim and Hayley Murphy (Baby Collins parents). Baby Collin is doing very well and was able to get his breathing tube out today. He is doing well on a nasal C-pap. Thank God that Collin is doing so well. Tim and Hayley have really been great support for us as well since they have been here everyday with Collin.

After lunch, we went back to sitting by Kaden's side until his surgery. I prayed and prayed for Kaden to do well today and beat this CDH. Today is the first day in my life that I have ever begged God for anything. I begged that God give Kaden the strength to pull through this, get well, and come home to his family that loves him. I begged God not to take my son from me. I think my begging, as well as prayers from all over the world to help Kaden through this really worked today.

The surgeons came in at around 4:00pm and began Kaden's surgery. After about an hour, one of the nurses came out and told us that everything was going great! Kristi and I were so happy. We went in to see Kaden around 5:30pm. He looked great. It was so nice to see Kaden without that nasty canula sticking out of his neck. The nurses had cleaned up Kaden's hair as much as possible which we really appreciated. Kaden is on a high osilating ventilator at around 75-80% oxygen. His numbers were not too bad for just coming off ECMO. His O2 levels were sitting around 80-85 upper, and 65-75 lower. Not the best, but we will take it. They say that it takes a little time for his body to adjust from the bi change from ECMO to ventilator. His numbers will be fluctuating for a while, but the Doctors were very happy by Kaden's success.

They did an X-ray of Kaden's chest to see how his right lung was holding up. The X-ray looked great!! They said that it looks like a majority of his right lung is open, and it is a pretty good size (down to about the 9th rib).

We will continue to keep a close eye on Kaden tonight. The hospital gave us a room on the 15th floor very close to Kaden. I just wanted to come into our room and update the blog during shift change, because I know that so many people are praying for Kaden today. God is hearing the prayers, so please keep them coming. They are working wonders for Kaden. He has came off ECMO successfully, but still has many hurdles to overcome in the days ahead. If there are any changes, I will let you all know. I might even post again just to update everybody later tonight since I'm sure we will be up late.

Thanks again and talk to you later!