Latest on Lainee!! Every breath I take I breathe in You, You are my way Jesus By Jessica Peters- Jensen — 1 hour ago Back to the idea of using song lyrics for a journal update title. Having Lainee intubated has been hard for us to see; however, she has made several improvements since being intubated and for that we are grateful. We knew she had been putting up a ferocious fight on her own but her body simply got tired. Having machines help her breath has made it so much easier for her to fight back against the HUS. And with Gods help and the prayers and support of so many, we have been able to stay positive that she is on the road to recovery. That being said, she is improving but not in the recovery phase yet. Its difficult to know how much of the improvement is due to the machines and how much of it she will be able to maintain on her own once dialysis is done and she is extubated. Some improvements shes made since being intubated: -Platelet count is up, but weve been warned not to be excited about that until it is a sustainable trend -Her respitory status is improving; weve been slowly backing down on the settings of her respirator which means shes been able to do more breathing on her own. As of this morning it sounds like we may be able to extubate early next week if things continue as they have been. -Based on some of the substances theyve been able to get out of the NG (nasal gastric) tube the surgeon believes her pancreatitis is improving. Basically there is a tube that goes down into her gut and suctions the fluid out. Based on what those fluids look like today the surgeon indicated her guts are moving things through. - Some of the other things they look at in her renal function blood work indicate all good things. However, this is the area that is most likely due to the continuous dialysis. We wont really know if her kidneys are actually working on their own until weve completed a full 72-hour cycle of the CRT (continuous renal therapy) and give her body a short break from that. We know they arent fully functioning anyway because she has not produced urine. As usual, Dr. Hsu (pronounced Shoe), who is a self-proclaimed pessimist he says, warns us that we will have ups and downs while she is on a respirator and on dialysis. We can be encouraged that she is showing improvement but we are not to be discouraged when she has a day with fewer pieces of good news. Some of the items of concern that remain ongoing include: -She continues to spike fevers from time to time. We currently have 5 cultures pending as Dr. Hsu wants to catch anything quickly. His concern is with staph infection or MRSA (antibiotic resistant staph) with all the plastic she has running in and out of her body. She does receive a broad-based antibiotic in her IVs so we have our basis covered for now. -Her extremities have gotten very cold since starting the CRT. They assure us that this is not a big deal and is due to the fluctuations in her fluid levels. We make sure to keep her tootsies warm and keep warm blankets on her. She seems to be much more comfortable when she has a warm blanket on. -Today she looks very puffy to me and her color doesnt look as good as it did Thursday. This is not of any concern because again it is just due to the fluctuations in her fluid levels but I liked it when her color came back and her fluid levels were down. Other things we talked about yesterday and today during the doctors rounds and items of interest: -She did have to come off the CRT twice yesterday. The filters on the machine get clogged and so her blood has to be returned to her body and they have to change the circuit. This basically means they have to change the tubing on the machine and de-clog the lines in her catheter. This is not an ideal situation obviously because then she is off the dialysis for a time which allows the fluid levels to increase which means when she is back on they have to turn the machine up and play catch up. We are praying those two incidences were the last and we can get through a 72-hour session of CRT. -She did have to go with TPN, her nutrition, for a time after being intubated because there was not an available line to put it through. We have been able to resume this though which is a good thing. The surgeon today indicated she is OK with Dr. Hsu inserting a tube into her stomach to start giving her food which is basically amped up baby formula. I believe at this point that might happen later today or tomorrow. -Her blood pressure goes up and down in conjunction with the levels of the CRT. When she had to come off the circuit, this messed with her blood pressure. They are able to regulate it with medications obviously, but hopefully weve seen enough of that too! It seems to me there are a bazillion other things weve talked about over the past 2 days. If, by the grace of God, I remember them, Ill add another update. Otherwise, today we are excited to see so many friends and family who have indicated they are coming to visit! Initially on Thursday I didnt think I was going to be up for visitors. Wednesday night was very difficult and emotional. It was one of the first times I let my mind go to a place of worst case scenario. However, as visitors arrived I found it was helpful to see familiar faces and get hugs from caring friends and family. There are no adequate words to describe how thankful we are for everyone who has thought of Lainee, prayed for her, sent something to brighten her day or stopped to see her. We also appreciate all of the thoughts, prayers and concern for Brian and I and Nolan and Tatum. All things considered, most of us are holding up well. Its become kind of a joke with Dr. Hsu (hes the pediatric intensivist we see every day and some days-multiple times a day) that Brian is also asking about the numbers and a time frame! I know he just wants his baby girl to get better but he may need sedation soon too! Nolan and Tatum are doing as well as can be expected considering their lives these last few weeks of summer have been turned completely upside down. They have spent lots of extra time with their cousins and Nolan has stayed with friends a couple of nights, but they are really just wanting to be home. I try to spend some time with each of them away from the hospital when I can and right now Brian is with them at a hunting expo at Scheels. We are working on figuring out a way for one of us to be home at night so the kids can be home. Again, thanks for all of the support and prayers!!!!! In between visitors and time away today, I will try to update anything else!
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 16:26:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015