Still hoping......

This morning we came in early so that we could be here when the doctors rounded and made a decision about the next steps for Jenna. They felt that she did well through the night and that she was comfortable which is what they want since she is still on the ventilator. They were able to get the Nitric oxide gas off of her by 6:30a and she tolerated it staying off. So, they decided to pull her right atrium line which is lying directly on her heart so they could monitor her pressures. Since she tolerated the nitric oxide being off, they do not need to monitor her pressures so closely. They will do an echocardiogram in a couple of days to make sure the pressures have not changed. The Viagra is working well and helping her lung vessels stay dialated. They decided to do a chest xray by noon to make sure that she does not have any leaks in her lungs, and then they will pull the chest tubes. They are pretty much not draining blood any longer, so they feel it is best to pull them. They decided that it is still too early to pull her off of the ventilator, because from a cardiac stand point she is doing fine, but respiratory wise she is still struggling a little. She is still letting the vent help her breathe, she will do it herself a little and then she will get mad and then wear herself out. Then she is too tired, so she lets the machine do the work. So they will attempt to extubate tomorrow, but it is possible it could be Wednesday. We will see. She is peeing quite a bit, which is good because she is getting the fluid out. They have her on Lasix 3 times a day, so this is a good thing. Because she is still on the vent, they are keeping her sedated. Every little bit, her body wakes up (her eyes stay closed) and she starts moving around on the bed. So they have given her lots of Versed and Fentnyl through the IV but she is also on continuous of these as well. Earlier they decided to give her Ativan because the quick doses of these did not help. Now she is resting well, but still moving some. I have decided that she is just wanting Daddy and I to be on our toes as usual and pay lots of attention to her. :) That is ok, because we talk to her and her eyelids move around, so this makes us feel like she can hear us. Her nose is red and has skin breakdown some from the ventilator, so they are trying to help keep it moisturized, but gets worse when she moves around a lot. They have increased her feeds to 6ml per hour and will increase her 1ml every four hours. Her CO2 levels on her labs went up, which indicated that she had a little leak in her ventilator, but they added water and was able to get it fixed. So, they are going to stop her Epinephrine today and have already taken off her bandage on her incision. The area looks great and is healing well. Her CICU score today went back up to 82-only because they added the NG tube. Hopefully we will continue to have a quiet day. I will let you know this evening how the rest of the day goes. Thanks to everyone for all the love, support and prayers.

Love, Jenny, Justin and Jenna