Monday, June 16, 2008

Day 4 Bedtime Update

Elaina's day was so so. She had a couple of minor setbacks, nothing huge. Her saturations weren't the best today, and we ended up going back up to 75% on the ventilator tonight. She had a couple of small spells with her blood pressure this afternoon, but after a couple of minor adjustments she settled back into her baseline. The surgeon came and looked at her chest. He said that her heart looks GREAT! BUT, her lungs still look a little stiff. He could see part of her right lung, and when the ventilator gave her a breath it didn't move, so he feels that it is still pretty full of junk. They are taking her off the ventilator and manually "bagging" her when they suction. This gives them the ability to give her bigger breaths so that they can loosen the gunk that is still in her lungs. They are getting lots out each time they do this. The problem is that it really wears her out and sometimes her saturations drop when they are done because she is so pooped out. Poor kiddo! She also woke up a lot today. She would hear my voice and her eyes would pop open and she'd start to wiggle and squirm. You'd think this would be a good thing, but since her chest isn't closed yet, they don't really want her moving around too much. They tried increasing the dosage on her sedations, but she was still waking up, so tonight they re-introduced the paralytic. They really want her to stay still tonight and get more fluids off so that they can close her chest tomorrow without complications. The doctors and nurses told me to expect some setbacks when they do this, possibly even having to re-open her chest if she doesn't tolerate the pressure. So I'm kind of nervous, I have "pre-surgery gitters" again, even though this isn't as scary as the last time. If they don't think that she's ready in the morning they will postpone the procedure. They really don't want to rush her or put her into a dangerous spot.
Anyway, I lucked out again tonight with a sleeping room, so I got my huge stack of pancake thin hospital pillows and an extra blanket and I'm off to bed. I'll try to get some pictures on tomorrow. So cute, the nurses have taped a bow onto one of the monitors on Elaina's forehead.

1 comment:

Tina:0) said...

HATE setbacks! Just comforting to know that they aren't rushing her & letting her little body call the shots! I know it doesn't seem like it now, but she'll be home & under your feet (literally!) in no time! Get some rest & give that little one a little kiss on the forehead from us!

XOXOXOXO
Tina & Vaeh (Jon & Gabby, too!):0)