Jul
29
    
Posted (Tina) in All Posts on July-29-2007

Ella continues to be stable – – praise God!  They reduced the ECMO earlier today, as Josh mentioned.  They took it down from 220 to 200.  I know that may not mean much, but it simply means that they slowly decreasing the amount of work that the machine is doing to see how Ella responds.  So far, Ella is doing amazing.  Her vital stats and blood gas levels are remaining the same – – this just means that her body is doing that extra bit of work.  This is what we want to conitinue to see as they decrease the levels…we want her to become stable enough so they can perform the surgery of moving her abdominal contents out of her chest.

No drastic changes are ever made overnight.  So, they will wait to hear from Dr. Kays in the morning.  However, if she has remained stable throughout the night, they will most likely look to reduce the ECMO machine levels even further tomorrow.

Enjoy the pics…I know that I enjoyed staring at my baby girl.  The swelling has definitely decreased since they gave her the meds earlier today.  A few times, her right eye started to peek open when I was holding her hand or touching her head.  Also, I felt a few tugs back from her gripping.  Although these details are small, they mean a lot coming from Ella.  I can’t wait until she begins to feel better and really begins to respond and look around. That will be fun…



 
Jul
29
    
Posted (jooosh) in All Posts on July-29-2007

Miss Ella West is continuing her stable track. All her vitals have maintained a steady course. Dr. Kays decided to reduce her ECMO flow a bit, putting more work back on Ella and she’s taking it ok. They’ve also given her some Lasix to reduce her puffiness and water retention, a typical side affect when a baby is initially placed on ECMO.

I spoke to baby Ella’s aunt and cousins this morning. How encouraging and precious to have Miss. Megan, Miss. Claire, and all her cousins coming together to pray for her. I’m looking forward to the day when Ella gets to meet them. I know she is too =).