Thursday, February 7, 2008
Its day 12 in the ICU…
Great strides were taken yesterday. We stand in awe of God’s ability to heal and the very specific answers to prayer from our last update!
Yesterday morning, we walked in to find they had already removed the respirator! What a joy to kiss and caress her beautiful face without the cumbersome wires and tape around her head. They gave her a few hours to see how her lungs were functioning, before the ultimate gift…the doctors agreed to let Mandy hold and begin breast-feeding her. She sat in a rocking chair and held Evie for 6 hours…worried that if we put her back in the bed, they’d never give her back:-)
She is alert and bright eyed. For the past week-and-a-half, she’s been so drugged up that we haven’t had much interaction with her awake. The doctors pull blood every couple hours to see her gasses in her blood look. The last time they extubated her, she had trouble blowing off the CO2 and her blood became acidic. This time she is doing beautifully!! The doctors (and we:-) are very pleased with her progress!
The newest concern is a heart arrhythmia they detected last night. This is not uncommon for people who have had heart operations, but something to monitor closely.
The doctors are discussing moving us to a regular recovery room possibly within the next day. Their biggest issue is how well Evie is eating. After a week not eating at all, her sucking reflex has atrophied and she gets tired easily. Pray that she will eat well enough that we can be assured that she’s getting the nutrition she needs.
We are growing very weary and feeling torn between our time at the hospital with Evie and at home with the other kids. They have been great with Mandy’s sister taking care of them, but we can tell they’re missing the stability of having our family together! Pray that recovery will continue to progress quickly so we can establish our family again!
God is good! Rejoice with us in all He has done!!
“Though sorrow may last for the night, rejoicing comes in the morning!”
Prayer:
-For Evie to eat well so that they won’t have to reintroduce the NG tube
-For her heart irregularity to subside
-Continued healing of the wound
-Fluid in her lungs to continue to dissipate
-For Tristan, Abi, Britain and Izzy at home
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Evening update…
The doctors evening evaluation led them to give her another night on the respirator. She had a very rough afternoon and is not toleration the tube well. She;s had episodes of coughing and gagging and throwing up. Doctors want her to get a few more hours of feeds in and rest overnight before they pull the tube tomorrow morning. Pray for rest for her tonight and a smooth transition tomorrow at 9:00 when they pull it….that she will be strong enough to breathe on her own!!!
Since we put out our last email we’ve been pleased with Evie’s progress and care.
Answers to prayer:
1) The last 2 nurse rotations Evie’s had our favorite nurses.
2) An x-ray this morning showed that there may be signs of slight healing in her lungs. (hopeful)
3) She’s passed her CPPAP tests that tell how she would do if they take her off the respirator.
4) The opening on her chest does not appear to be infected.
For prayer:
1) tomorrow they expect to take her off the ventilator, pray that she breaths well on her own afterwards.
2) pray that there won’t be too much scarring on her chest and that it won’t get infected.
3) she’s very uncomfortable on the ventilator and often has fits of gagging, coughing, and throwing up. Pray that she will rest and be at peace with her situation so that they don’t have to continue giving her morphine.
Monday, February 4, 2008
It would be easy to despair, had we not the
assurance that our Evangeline is being held securely by the hands of Him who loves her even more than we do. We know that the Lord is close t
o the brokenhearted!!
Another blood transfusion was requir
ed last night. The most recent chest x-ray this morning shows that the fluid in her lungs is not dissipating. Evie continues on an antibiotic to combat pneumonia. Coughing spells have been hard to control. The coughing causes her to gag on the tube and throw up, which she cant get rid of when she has the tube down her throat, so aspiration is a huge concern! Also, there is a problem with her incision not healing properly and splitting open in places. (…possibly due to the coughing
…hopefully not because there is infection!)
Today they may begin trials again to see if she is ready to come off the respirator and breathe on her own. It is critical to get her off the breathing tube and get her breathing on her own as soon as possible, but the concern remains that her lungs may be collapsing and need enough of a break to be strong enough to function without help. Pray for Evie’s lungs!
Every indication is that her new heart is in great condition for which we praise the Lord!!
She is almost on full feedings of mommy’s milk through her NG tube. The hope is that good nutrition will help her be strong enough to come off of the ventilator!
Please pray for these next 24 hours…
-that she’ll be able to come off of the ventilator
-that her lungs will do their job effectively
-that we’ll be able to hold her soon! she’s spent half her lifetime in a hospital bed and we miss our girl!!!
Join us in our prayer for Evie:
Ephesians 3:14
- 14.
- When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
- 15.
- the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
- 16.
- I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.
- 17.
- And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.
- 18.
- And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
- 19.
- May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.
Thank you friends for
loving and lifting us.
…Holding on for dear life!
