The intensive care doctors decided yesterday to try and awaken Dad and see if he can breathe on his own, but to keep him attached to the Ecmo so that his lungs could rest from the biopsy. Today when we were there he already started to wake up – he rolled his eyes and even moved his arm twice. His lung functions remained as they were and his condition is stable. Even his continued Ecmo use is risky, so the doctors aspire to wean him off it when possible.
In the meantime, there is a preliminary answer from the biopsy, which came out positive for bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP). This is a rare lung disease that can be caused by any number of factors, but the cause is often unknown. The good news is that if this is indeed the picture, it is a curable disease. The less good news is that the cure is with steroids and dad is not responding well enough to those. This may not be the full picture, and in the coming days we hope for more answers from the biopsy.
We’re still in a risky, scary place, but we have a glimmer of hope.