They tried to get Mikie off the vent today but he failed the test miserably.  Not that he wouldn’t breath on his own, he just wasn’t breathing hard enough and the when they checked his blood gases it just wasn’t good enough.  He had the Thoracentecis today and it went well, no complications and they did not need to leave a chest tube in place.  The nurse told me she thought they drew off about 600 ml of fluid.  He was resting very comfortably with no extra pain killer but was sedated with Versad, the drug they use to make you sleep while on the ventilator. He really looked good when I saw him at 8:30 PM.  They also put in a new pic line today.  They haven’t been able to get blood out of the old line for a week or so.