Leap forward, baby steps back

Good news is that M was extubated last night and handled it like a champ! She had a very brief period of difficulty, but then settled in and rested fairly comfortably. The bad news is that this incident has left her with some neurologic damage. She has lost a lot of function in her left arm/hand as well as her ability to suck. She is being tube fed and we are "practicing" a lot with the bottle. She is definitely interested, she just can't quite make it happen....yet. There is a possibility this is all transient and function could return. Only time will tell. She is not as interactive as she was before and I haven't been able to coax a smile out of her yet, but it is still early. The important thing is that she came back to us - that is all we have ever asked. We're really good at facing challenges and she is one tough, stubborn girl. We're hopeful that with intervention, therapies and a lot of hard work we'll make great strides.