It’s been a long day.

Ella is stable. We had a blood draw this morning. They sent James Brown (yes, that is his real name), who is known for his abilities, to draw labs from Ella. He tried in her foot once and noted that her veins would not cooperate well. So, he located a spot on her head and drew the blood from there. It was hard to watch but ended up being over and done fairly quickly, and without too much torture to Ella.

Her labs came back and her BUN is 19, the same as Sunday. So, we have not made much improvement over the past 2 days. The steroids are helping to lower her heart rate. But, she even had a slight weight gain this morning. This means that she is still fluid overloaded. We are not seeing the low heart rate and lower breathing effort like we did during the last hospital visit, but she isn’t as dried out either.

We are going to discuss with the morning doctors the best plan of attack. They do not have IV access, so Lasix is no longer an option. I suggested that maybe we try and incremental dose of Bumex instead of Lasix to see how much that impacts the scenario.

Since we do not have IV access plus she is getting ready for surgery, we also discussed the idea of a picc line (a peripherally inserted central catheter). This might be a solution to getting labs, inserting Lasix or any other meds directly into her bloodstream without having to poke her each time.

Cardiology came to do an echocardiogram today. They want to make sure that the pulmonary hypertension isn’t acting up and playing into her current status. We should have the results tomorrow.

In the bigger picture, Ella is much improved from Saturday when we brought her to the hospital. But clearly, she is still having some respiratory compromise.

Keep the prayers coming that the doctors can take the right steps in the next few days to get her stronger in preparation for surgery.

Thanks to all of you for the support and encouragement.

Isaiah 26:3-4 (New Living Translation)

You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Trust in the Lord always,
for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.