"More Aggressive Treatment" - Please Continue to Pray

After the last couple of days of respiratory therapy to help clear up the secretions in the air sacs of her right lung that have caused it to partially collapse and fluid around her left lung,  Audrey's surgeon has determined that results have been too little to think that continuing on this path is the best way to go, so she has ordered more aggressive treatment.

What this means is they will be re-intubating her (put her back on a breathing tube), which will allow them to try to break up the secretions with some solution they can put in and be much more aggressive in suctioning them out to open up the right lung, and they will be placing another small chest tube to help drain the fluids on the left side.

Of course, when the doctor explained this to us, he told us of all of the risks, which we know are meant to inform and not scare, but we're human and you hear scary stuff.  So please continue to pray.  This is a "setback" to some extent.  This will result in a longer stay overall and a day or two more in the PICU.  The new treatment will be every 12 hours, and she will be at least partially sedated during this time, so we know she'll be partially sedated for another 24+ hours.

Julie & I are in complete agreement that this needs to be done and are trusting God completely through this.  Please pray for Audrey and us, and pray that this treatment works as they expect it to, that it clears up her lungs, and please pray that there are no complications involved.

Now, on to a sweet moment that happened as I was typing this post.  Julie was at the bed with Audrey. Up to this point, Audrey hadn't tried to talk since the surgery.  She held up her wrist and pointed at the IV marks, looked at Julie and said"Owww", in a long soft whisper.  Don't worry she wasn't exclaiming "ow" in pain, she was pointing to an "ow" that she saw.  

She then proceeded to try and pull every tube and wire off, partially succeeding once, so the nurse had to come in and secure a wire down with tape.  When she finished she looked at Audrey and said, "Now, hows that?".  Audrey clapped for her.

Dad's Turn

In case you are wondering where the incision is, I thought it may be a little shocking or insensitive to some, so I blurred it out.

The PICU Is Like One Big Party

Well, not really.  I guess it is if your version of a party is sleeping almost all of the time, only to be awoken with annoying stuff being done to you from time to time.  Mom & Dad know the things they are doing are good for her, but Audrey is mostly annoyed by it.

So far the ICU has been good.  The doctors and nurses have all been wonderful, although we rarely have the same nurse twice.  They tell us Audrey is progressing normally.  She keeps getting tubes, sensors, & meds removed, which is good.  They have taken enough tubes and things off to allow us to hold her.  Julie got to do this for a little while yesterday, which was a blessing for all of us.  Audrey seemed to rest so deeply during this.  She did get restless after about an hour and a half, and needed to be repositioned, so she went back to the bed.  We hope to be able to do this more and more.

As far as Julie & me, at night we take turns staying in the room with her and sleeping in the family sleep room. This is a small room with a twin bed, TV, and bathroom - plenty for what we need at night.  During the day, we're here with her most of the time.  We'll sneak out and grab a quick bite if she's sleeping well. Julie's parents will come in and sit with her for longer periods, allowing us to get out of the hospital for a couple of hours each day.  Thank you, Jim & Sandy.

Audrey has had one thing come up, that they tell us is common.  She has secretions in the air sacs in her right lung which have caused a portion of it to collapse, so she has had a couple of respiratory therapy sessions to help correct this, along with "deep suctioning" of the lungs.

The first therapy was to roll her on her side and beat the snot out of her back & chest with a small oxygen mask.  It sounds and looks a lot worse than it actually is.  They pound away pretty quickly on each side for a while.  Audrey first had a shocked look on her face, but then fell asleep.  It really seemed like she was just getting a good massage.  The next thing was a mask over her nose & mouth that repeatedly shot bursts of air.  This was vibrating her lungs and breaking up the mucus inside, making it easy to suction out.  She didn't sleep through this one.

It looks like she'll be in the PICU at least one more night.  They want to make sure her lung is cleared up before moving her to a regular room.  

Thank you all again for your prayers and support.  We have felt them and appreciate the encouragement we have received from so many.

Doing Well

Audrey had a good first night after surgery.  She's in the the PICU until, probably tomorrow sometime.  She's got many wires and tubes going on right now, and they'll be removing different tubes as she progresses.  Right now they've taken her off of some of the meds that have kept her asleep, so she can wake up and be taken off of her breathing tube.  She is breathing on her own, but she needs to be fully awake before they take this out.

They haven't given any indication so far, as to when she'll be discharged.  She'll have to leave the PICU and be moved to a regular room on the cardiac floor, before they'll be looking in that direction.  So, we've got a few more days ahead, but that's OK because the care here is incredible.

Hopefully later on today, I'll have more to report, but for now it's mostly rest and knowing that she is recovering well.

Thank you all again for your prayers.  I'll close with a picture I snapped with my phone yesterday on the way to surgery.

To Him Be the Glory!

Audrey's out of surgery and in recovery.  We'll get to see her in about an hour in the PICU, where she will be for the next couple of days, then she'll be in a regular room for 2-3 days.  We'll post more later.

Thank you all for praying.  Please join us in lifting up His name in praise.

A Small Correction & A Sweet Moment

I think I may have given the wrong impression with my last post re: my frustration.  I'm mostly posting this for my benefit, so I feel better about people knowing what I meant earlier. I am afraid that I made Dr. Christian, in particular, seem harsh or uncooperative, and honestly the opposite is true.

We were actually quite comforted with Dr. Christian saying that it would be in the morning and saying it as emphatically as she did.  I guess, for three reasons, first she is the surgeon who will be doing the operation, so her opinion means more to us than all the others; second,  moving back to the scheduled time instead of moving it up, means that Dr. Christian's team will all be in place - no substitutions; and third, the fact that she said it with such authority, it comforted us to know that, "OK, this we can count on."

My frustration was with the back-and-forth nature of how things have been scheduled, not with the final decision to wait until morning.  I just wanted to make sure it was clear that our frustration was not directed at Dr. Christian and really at any one person or group.  

Now on to a really sweet moment. As I sit here and type this, Julie is on my left asleep on the sleeper sofa in the room, and Audrey is right next to me on my right in the hospital baby bed, at about eye level to where I'm sitting.  A couple of minutes ago, two nurses came in to start her fluids in prep for surgery, which upset her a little, so when they left I reached over and stroked her face until it looked like she went to sleep.

I turned back to type in this post and about a minute later, this little girl, who's had much more try cry about than smile about let out a "hehhh!" in a whisper.  I looked over and she was smiling and reaching for me.  So, of course, I put the laptop down and reached out and took her hand (I could tell she wanted to hold hands), and I put my other hand on the back of her head.  She smiled again and went back to sleep.  

This is exactly the type of child she is.  She's had a rough three days, and from her perspective has been tortured (I could tell story after story of how rough these tests have been on her), but even after all of that, this tender-hearted little girl, smiled at her dad, took his hand and stole his heart, again.

She's done this a few times with both of us, not just dad, but I wanted to share this one. We love this little girl.

Thank you all for your encouragement and your prayers.

Insert Your Preferred Frustrated Word Here

So a little while ago we found out there was a communication breakdown at the hospital. Audrey's surgeon didn't reschedule the surgery, and when word got to her that someone rescheduled it, she basically said, "Nope, the surgery is on for the morning, unless there is an emergency", which there isn't one.

I know many of you want to pray during the surgery. I am very sorry that they keep us changing. According to Dr. Christian, Audrey's surgeon, she is set for 8am tomorrow, and she has assured us that, short of an emergency, she has the final say.

What a emotional ride. I'm going to take a much needed nap. Thanks for your prayers.

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