Ella had another great day. Her stats (high 90’s) and blood gases (cO2 = 47, pO2 = 114) maintained so well that Dr. Kays reduced the FiO2 on the ventilator to 55 earlier today. As of late tonight, she was still maintaining quite well.

Another change: Dr. Kays increased the amount of octreotide (the medicine given to reduce fluids). Originally, he was giving 3.5; he doubled the dosage to 7. This is the maximum amount that a baby of her size can receive.

Although we have had really good results with the fluid reduction so far, he still wants to see her fluids way less. His immediate goal is to have her fluid output under 300 per day. As of the last 24 hour period, it was 340. The results for 9/2 will be available at 7am tomorrow morning.

It will take a few days to see the maximum impact from the highest dosage of octreotide. From there, we will be able to tell if the fluid reduction has been sufficient enough or if we need to consider other therapies.

Within the next few days we also expect to hear from Dr. Kays on whether or not he is recommending another “balloon” treatment for her collapsed superior vena cava (SVC syndrome). Our hope is that the head swelling has reduced enough that we can skip that procedure all together, but we will have to wait and see.

One side note: when we first saw Ella today, we noted that she had inadvertently scratched her cheek. Her nails were getting so long and due to the blood thinner, you cannot clip her nails. But, we found out that we could file her nails.

So, yes, Ella had her first manicure in the NICU as Mom filed down her nails! She was alert, looking around and staring at her monkeys while I worked on her hands. The pictures did not turn out well, but trust me, it was pretty cute.

Thanks for the continued prayers for Ella – – they are working! We are seeing God slowly restore her strength and heal her body.

It has been an amazing journey…we thank you for participating with us.

P.S. I know many were gone for the holiday weekend, so if you didn’t get a chance to see Sunday’s post, you’ll want to check it out. The video is cute and really shows Ella’s progress =).