Hi you wonderful friends--
Our little Adelaide studied well this week and ended the term by graduating from Critical to Stable. She took many credits this quarter as detailed below:
Addie finished her first class of Bilirubin Studies early in the week. After challenging the Doctors regarding her nicely bronzed skin, they agreed to let her pass and turned off her bili-lights. They continued to monitor her liver enzyme tests and bilirubin status, but by the end of the term, she passed both with flying colors. It took a few days for Addie to lose her "suntan," but eventually she began to look less like a foreign-exchange student and more like she fit in with her Caucasian classmates.
In Diaper Studies, she continued to amaze her professors with nice, fat diapers, demonstrating that she had a good understanding of stomach & bowel function. Her mom and sister even got to help in her diaper changes this week, which gave her an edge toward future goals of elimination.
Always a favorite with students, Addie enjoyed "lunch-time." She loved the increased portions of mommy-milk served to keep up with her increasing appetite. From 2 ml at the week's beginning, Addie is now up to 25 ml per day.
In Thermodynamics 101, Addie excelled at maintaining an increased body temperature. Her mentors agreed that she no longer needed to be confined in an sealed warmer isolate bed. So they raised the roof/heater, and Addie now has increased room to be hand-hugged and photographed by her proud parents and siblings. She will now move into Thermodynamics 202, where she will learn to keep her own body temperature without the aid of overhead heaters.
Thursday truly challenged our progressing student. After a rough Wednesday night of exams and blood draws, her blood pressure dropped. Her teachers decided to give her another blood transfusion, but that required finding another IV site. Bruises of utilized vein sites spotted her arms, elbows, legs, and feet. There was talk of putting an IV in her forehead. As they poked, prodded, and attempted failed IV's, Addie about caved to the stress. Crying silently, she writhed and wrestled. Pain meds were administered to calm her down, and the IV was placed in a vein running alongside her tiny foot. The transfusion was given, and the results raised Addie's blood pressure exams to passing levels. Final exams still loomed, however, as her medical team attempted to place a feeding/medicine catheter (PICC Line) up a vein in her arm, past her shoulder and down into the main heart vein. After failing on both sides, the next morning an expert was called in. She tried to place the PICC line up a vein in the leg and succeeded in placing it into the lower heart vein. This allowed her study team to pull Addie's two umbilical catheters. Now her umbilical cord site can heal and turn into a cute belly button.
To test out of Fluid Management required Addie to stop producing fluid around her lungs & in the drain tubes. Early in the week, she brought her fluid drainage down to 3 cm. Her aides sealed off the tubes and turned off the vacuum suction for her final exam. After a few x-ray analyses, Addie passed her thesis and proved to the medical board that she no longer needed chest tubes. They agreed and pulled them out on Friday, and reduce her pain meds to half dosage. She'll now be better able to put her mind to really healing.
The last class of the week, Addie attempted to learn more about Respiration. She demonstrated her ability to inflate her lungs to their full capacity and to lower her oxygen use. Impressed, her therapists removed her oscillator (which gently gave tiny, short breaths to her lungs) and moved her to the next chapter of Respiration: the Ventilator. Addie is succeeding so well on the ventilator, that her therapists think she'll be ready to pull her breathing tube out Sunday or Monday and move to the third chapter of Respiration: C-Pap (a small tube of additional oxygen running under her nose). When she passes off the ventilator unit, Addie will be able to register for classes in "Mommy-Hold Me!" and "Basics in Breastfeeding: Suck, Breathe, & Swallow".
We are proud of our little student graduating from the school of Critical. Heading into the graduate studies in the University of Stable & Growing, we will be fasting in gratitude tomorrow. This week we will be praying that she can learn to breathe without mechanical support so her breathing tube can be pulled, master suck/breathe/swallow to allow for her feeding tube to be pulled, and for little Addie to be shielded from all germs that would hinder her progress in the school of healing. We will also be praying that she can overcome her Pulmonary Hypertension so that she can be weaned off Nitric Oxide, and that all her organ systems will continue to heal and stay strong. We thank you for praying with us in her behalf. We know and see that these prayers are answered in her beautiful progress. See before (512) and after (567) pictures below to see our little lady without the swelling . . . she opened her eyes this week! :-)
With love for you and gratitude for your continued faith and prayers,
Desi
