Blog post, take 2. I wrote this earlier today while Taylor was resting on my Blackberry and apparently it didn't post. Bummer...I will try to briefly recap.
The last two days Taylor has continued to heal nicely. Her incision looks great and her breathing is improving daily. Today she was able to be off of the oxygen for periods up to two hours and maintain SATS in the low to mid 90s. Wow! Her congestion is now being treated with nebulizers and she was seen by a pulmonologist today as well. He prescribed nebs every 3-4 hours for the next two days and if she is not clear at that point we will try oral steroids. After 3 treatments the improvement was very noticeable! Wonderful progress!
Taylor is eating like a champ and drinking lots of fluids which is great. Pizza, hummus, guacomole, meatballs and tortilla chips have all been on the menu. Her doctors and the nurses are very impressed. Today and yesterday she spent increasing amounts of town out of bed walking, visiting the playroom and courtyard and riding in a pink car. We have visited the helicopter viewing bridge a lot and luckily have a super view of the helipad right out our window. She LOVES to see the helicopters take off and land.
We also have moved on to changing Taylor's IV port, chest tube dressings and removing various other bandages. She has been a trooper through it all and is a favorite of the nurses and techs. :)
A few things that will keep her in the Taylor in the hospital until at least Friday.
1. Her chest tube is still draining quite a bit. The cardiologists and surgeons feel that this is due to inflammation in her chest from surgery and are going to try treating her first with Motrin and if that doesn't work to slow the drainage down, then they will move to oral steroids which should do the trick! Then the tube can be removed and she will be home free.
2. She needs to be able to maintain her SATs in the 90s consistently without oxygen. We are definitely already moving in the right direction there. It is likely that once the inflammation in her chest subsides a bit, the breathing will come easier as well.
3. Today her blood work showed that her immune globulin was low as a result of some of the protein leaking out through her chest tube. This is important to help her fight infection, which thankfully she has not shown signs of. Tonight she is receiving a slow IV infusion of IGG and then her blood will be tested again Thursday to look for improvement. Right now the doctors are being very proactive and do not feel this is a significant issue.
We have had several visitors over the last two days including Cameron and Emileigh on Sunday and Monday. Ashley has been a constant and a wonderful help with Taylor and Cam and Em. She is a godsend!!! Yesterday Babs and Nic stopped in and brought T a milkshake from McDs. Our good friend Linzy N. also visited for a quite a while. We have also seen our pastors Tom and Barbara and had a wonderful visit from Kathy Palmer as well. Taylor loves to have visitors as do Jason and I as well!
Thanks for the wonderful snacks and meals from the Tituses, Schumans, Rakestraws, Christy, Kim and Linda from OH. Not to mention parking passes, and food gift cards from our wonderful FG neighbors and colleagues at OH and Lees Corner. We have been so well cared for. Cannot THANK YOU enough!
Please continue to pray for healing for Taylor and patience for Jason and me. :) We also ask for prayers for the doctors as they care for T and all the kids on South and in PICU. Please keep one in particular in your prayers - Taylor's roommate Charlotte is 9 months old and seems to be failing to thrive. She is working hard to grow and tolerate feedings. She receives lots of love from the nurses and volunteers but we have not seen any family. Please pray for her too.
Love to you all....I am home with Cam and Em tonight and will be heading into school for a bit tomorrow then off to the hospital to relieve J in the afternoon. More from us soon...
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