Good Day!

We had a good day today! The Social Worker in the PICU arranged for a group called "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" to come to Elaina's bed space and take professional photos of her. I got the call at 9pm yesterday, so I went home to prepare. I dug out her prettiest pink frilly dress and took Ben in his Sunday best and we had pictures taken. I really hope that they turn out nice. The photographer took lots of different poses and said that she would send them to me in a couple of weeks. She even said that she would be willing to come out to my house when we get home and she'll take some pictures of us there! Hopefully some of the pictures will be digital so that I can post them on this blog!
Elaina was pretty sleepy while we were there today, but she seemed to enjoy being held by me and especially by her big brother. My Aunt Kathryn came with us (to help with Ben's enthusiasm) and she was able to hold Elaina too. It was very nice. She's still looking a little blue, but her numbers are acceptable. She's down to 3 liters on the high flow, and her sats are between 68-73. It would be nice if they would stay higher, but I'll take 68 over 50 any day of the week! She's been throwing up for the past couple of days too. Not food, just mucus and stomach acid. They're not quite sure why, but are giving her meds to her very slowly through the NJ and trying not to move her too quickly. Her chest x-ray is looking a little bit better, even though the top portion of her right lung is still collapsed. They don't think that she'll ever heal in that area, there just isn't enough blood flow to that part of her lung. Also, it looks like the hole in her groin is beginning to heal on it's own. Plastic Surgery said that they didn't think it would heal without the broviac being pulled, but the nurse today said that it looked a little more shallow and she couldn't see the broviac when she changed the dressing. I truly hope that it is healing and that we'll be able to keep the broviac until it's time to go home.
Speaking of home, I still don't know exactly when, BUT it could possibly be as early as the end of next week! They told me that she will still be extremely fragile, and they can't make any guarantees, but they also can't keep her at the hospital forever. Right now it's just one minute, one hour and one day at a time, but there is a light at the end of this tunnel!