ECMO Trial Update

Some encouraging news this morning as they clamped off Eddie's ECMO circuit about two hours ago. So far the trial is going well. He is still hooked up to the pump so if he begins to struggle, the nurses can turn the flow back on . . . but for now, he is responding well. Good heart rate and blood pressure and this morning's ECHO is definitely showing some improvement in his left ventricle function, i.e. much better squeeze than last week. Picture of the ECMO device is below . . . the blue cylinder with the red lid is the pump (heart) and the white diamond-shaped unit to its left is the oxygenator. You can see the inbound/outbound tubes on the far left side of the image.

The plan for the day is to continue monitoring his progress and make a decision this afternoon about whether or not to decannulate (remove the ECMO tubes from his neck). We'll share updates as we have them, but right now we are just happy to see him make it this far.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers . . . they truly make a difference.