Jan
13
    
Posted (Tina) in All Posts on January-13-2008

Yes, this is really the tag line from Taco Bell, but when it stared at me from the TV yesterday, I couldn’t help but laugh and realize that we do need to think outside The Bun!

As Josh wrote on the prior post, Ella had a stable night where she rested for most of the night. That is so good. She needs that sleep to fight off whatever cold/virus that she has right now. And although Ella does not like the concept of an isolation room, since she is a social butterfly, it does make for a much better sleep environment. It is quiet with light, sound and temperature control. With her fan keeping her cool and the tunes of her CDs going, she slept really well.

We will be in the isolation room for another day or so, at a minimum (assuming that she tests negative for RSV). Then at that point, it will depend on space in the NICU unit. Although I can tell you from looking around, it is very quiet up there (that is good news for other parents and for us).

We are anxious to see Dr. Kays to get an update from him on the plan. So far, they were able to wean Ella back down to 1 liter of oxygen throughout the night and she is stable and behaving more like herself. This is extremely reassuring.

Also, for those of you that have been watching on a regular basis, Ella is getting stronger. Each time she has one of these set backs, it is taking less and less time to get her back to a stable place. Praise God!

Thanks for the continued petition to our Lord on our behalf. All of you are an amazing source of support during the storm.

Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

UPDATE 4:15PM EST: The Bun is looking stable at the moment. Since the last post, her oxygen was weaned 2x down to 800ml. She is sleeping soundly and maintaining a saturation of 95 or greater, with a heart rate of 160-170. This is a huge improvement from yesterday.

They have decided to try and keep her comfortable, slowly weaning the oxygen as she tolerates with the goal of getting down to 500ml. She seems to be taking steps in the right direction.

They are not planning to give her lasix via IV today unless she begins to show signs of respiratory distress. Instead, she is still on the bumex 3x per day at a dose of .25mg as well as the diamox once per day.

The weekend crew is more interested in keeping her stable and moving her back to her baseline, rather than coming up with a new plan. Dr. Kays was supposed to be around this weekend, but it turns out, he has not been around the hospital. It looks like we will have to wait until tomorrow to get a better idea of what the next steps are for Ella.

The good thing is that Nurse Marla, who knows her very well, has been taking care of her today. We are not sure who has her tonight, but it will be key to keep a close eye on her.

Here you can see that she is starting to be herself again…she was checking herself out in her mirror and stopped to give me a peek.