Post-Op Day 3

Well, they tried to put her on CPAP (helps you breathe) last night, but she didn't cooperate. It just made her more agitated. And when they checked her blood gas (measurement of how much oxygen is in your blood) it was no better than when she wasn't on CPAP. So, it wasn't worth it to keep her on it. She is still breathing very fast and her nail beds are blue. Her sats (oxygen saturation) are now hanging around 72, so that's a slight improvement.

Her x-ray from last night was hazy, so they are going to get another one today. The nurse said they did lots of suctioning last night, so hopefully the x-ray today will be a little better.

She is completely off the drugs now. Her last dose of Precedex was at 4pm yesterday. She is more awake now, but she's not very happy. I'm sure a lot of that is because she's working so hard to breathe. It is very hard to think about anything else when all your energy is going to breathing. It is hard for me to imagine, as I've never had to work like that. But she spent the majority of her first year doing that, and I remember it all too well. She is a different girl when she can breathe!

Her heart rate is not very steady. So they did a few EKGs this morning and decided to put her back on the pacemaker. Except this time it is only there as a backup for when she drops below a certain rate. I think her nurse said that when her heart rate dropped her blood pressure went very high (they are constantly monitoring her blood pressure with the arterial line). So, hopefully the pacemaker will keep that from happening again.

They have finally started feeding her (the last time she was fed was at 10:30pm on Sunday night!) But they are only giving her half of her normal feeding. And once she tolerates that okay, they will go up to full feeds.

Unfortunately she drained a lot of blood last night. Two days ago (6/9) her total drainage in a 24 hour period was 120 mls (4 ounces). And in the past 24 hours (6/10) her drainage was 460 mls (more than 15 ounces)!!!! Holy cow that's a lot!!!

So, they said that she will stay in the CICU for at least the next 24 hours.

Well, Tom went to Union Station to pick up his mom and Murphy. They said that he can come visit her, he just needs to be screened first. Hopefully he'll do okay with her. Our theory is that if he could handle how she looked after her jaw reconstruction, he can handle anything! I'm anxious to see how she reacts to seeing him.

So, more updates later. Thanks again for all your continued support!
~Christy