Still Fighting

Today was another positive day for Elaina. Her saturations are continuing to stay in the acceptable range. The arterial line in her right foot stopped working last night, and so the nurse took it out today. That means no more arterial blood gases. The reason that arterial blood gases are so important is that it tells us how much oxygen is in her blood before it's used by her body. We can take a veinous blood gas (from her broviac) but it only tells us how much oxygen is left over after she's done using it. But, a veinous gas is good to let us know how well she's breathing, because we can monitor her CO2 levels. In speaking with Elaina's doctor tonight, we're going to just use the CO2 levels in trying wean her off her ventilator and the nitric. They could do capillary gases, but they would have to poke her every single time they want to find out, and we don't think that it's really worth it when the number would be very similar to the veinous gas anyway. So we're going to trust her pulse oxymeter and hope that she does okay. The doctor has weaned her ventilator down a little bit today but she's still on the nitric and has a ways to go on the vent. I'm getting mixed signals from the doctors at this point. I'm not really sure how to feel about it. They are encouraged by Elaina's progress, but I get the general impression that they still do not think that she will survive this ordeal. I was talking with one of the doctors about "the future" tonight, and she bluntly told me that she honestly hadn't thought about it. Hmph. Well, I think about it!! I am fully aware (painfully aware) that Elaina may not make it through this. BUT, I truly feel that I need to remain positive and continue to have faith in Elaina as well as my Heavenly Father. I am grateful for every moment of every day that I have this precious little soul in my life. I hope and pray that I am allowed to keep her for many days to come!