Day 35

Guess Who's Speaking!!!

Cindy has a speaking valve - called a Passy-Muir valve "installed" and can now "speak". 

Passy-Muir Valve - courtesy of Amazon

This is Cindy's trachea with the Passy-Muir Valve.

Day 32

Reminder - Cindy is at Kindred Hospital in San Leandro and not at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek.  Kindred is a Long Term Care Facility.  The average stay is usually a month or more.

Cindy was connected to the oxygen again today for 6 hours.  The assist level will go down tomorrow morning (good news) and she will also be on the oxygen connection later in the day for at least 6 - 8 hours.

Day 31

Cindy's Respiratory Therapist surprised us today and took her off the ventilator and hooked the trachea directly to Oxygen.  This is a huge step.  She was able to breathe without any problems.  She was put back on the ventilator after 4 hours so as to not tax her breathing for too long.  She will repeat this process tomorrow for 4 - 6 hours.

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