Friday, August 7, 2009 2:57 PM

Friday, August 7, 2009 2:57 PM, EDT

It's been a roller coaster of a day. Kyle was doing well enough this morning tha

t the medical team decided to go ahead and remove the breathing tube from Kyle's throat. So they removed the tube about 11 am and he was doing pretty well breathing on his own. But the pneumonia has created quite a bit of congestion and his chest wall muscles just aren't quite strong enough to allow him to breathe hard enough to give him the volume he needs. He did a GREAT job couging up alot of "stuff", but he was working so hard to do that - it just tired him out. So....he is back on the ventilator again.

His medical team thinks the next step will be a tracheostomy - making a small incision in his throat and placing a small ring inside his neck and then connect the breathing tube there. This will allow him to work his muscles in his chest - they disconnect the tube, he can breathe on his own and then put the tube back to help him breathe. We just have to be sure that the incision from his neck surgery has healed enough to put the trach in...we'll know more soon.

His myleogram yesterday showed his spine is perfectly straight and there is no compression - GREAT NEWS! However, he does have a blood clot in his spinal cord and some spinal fluid built up and they will watch that very closely. The blood clot might be what's causing some of the pressure to his cord that restricts his breathing.

He still is somewhat sedated and is able to open his eyes every now and then. Hopefully tomorrow will be another day closer to recovery and making the next step to getting him out of ICU and into rehab. More soon!