Off of ECMO

Lots of things have happened in the last 24 hours.

Yesterday afternoon, Mason seemed to be doing good and raised his blood pressure to acceptable levels. The doctors started to ween him off of blood pressure medications in hopes that we would be able trial off of ECMO in the next couple of days.

Yesterday evening, we received word that Mason had started to bleed into his brain. This is a common but serious complication when babies are on ECMO. Mason was a higher risk because of his prematurity and low blood pressure. The bleeds were small and the doctors felt it was time to take him off of ECMO before anything got worse. The bleed was in the tissue of his brain which may affect some function. However, since the bleed is small, it should heal up. Babies can overcome some of these issues with time and therapy.

Mason was faced with a "permanent" ECMO trial this morning. He was taken off with the knowledge that he would not go back on if anything happened (because of the risk of further brain bleeding). The trial went well and when Mason stabilized somewhat he went into surgery to remove the cannulas in his heart. His chest will stay open for 24 to 48 hours.

So far, Mason has been out of surgery for 3 hours and seems to be doing well. However, the doctors have told us that the first 24 hours are critical and many babies will get sicker when coming off of ECMO for this period. Because Mason was forced off of ECMO, he was taken off with ventilator settings higher than normal and many more medications than normal. He will have a very rocky road ahead of him.