Ella did great last night. She only started to wake up in the early morning hours. The overnight nurse helped vent her a couple of time throughout the night and then she did not wake up until the morning. That is the last time I can remember her sleeping real solid throughout the night.

The Bun’s cortisol test came back with flying colors. Praise God that her adrenal glands are working and that she will not need to take cortisol supplements. When they initially placed the IV and drew the blood, her level was 16. Thirty minutes later it was 34 and thirty minutes after that it was 31.

Interestingly enough, Ella’s basic metabolic panel came through from last night. Her BUN is still 34. This is the same level when it was tested early Saturday morning. This is amazing that her BUN stayed the same yet they did decrease the dosage of Aldactazide. This means that the Aldactazide is working well for her.

Also, I brought up the food and how that might play a part. Dr. Kays was always keen that food played a big part in her overall fluid status. And not just the volume of food that she took, but the actual type of food. Last night after the cortisol test, Ella started taking 27 k/cal formula. She seemed to tolerate it fine. When they discussed during rounds this morning, they felt that since she is still dry, she could probably handle a little bit more volume. So, they have her at a rate of 31ccs/hour (used to be 30ccs/hour). If all goes well, we might try increasing the caloric content of the food in the morning.

Clinically, she looks fantastic. Aside from her BUN still being too high, she looks and feels amazing. You can just tell. That is so good to see.

Since we are getting close to our final cocktail for Ella, they have ordered more blood labs in the morning. They want to check them again to see if giving her the extra volume did anything to her labs.

My dear friend Terri arrived from Dallas today. She volunteered several weeks back to fly out and help coordinate our move. Aren’t great friends an amazing blessing? Literally, I have no idea how all this would have worked without the help of her and other volunteers that have stepped up.

Today was great. Since Ella was on a good path, I had Kelly come to the hospital to take care of her. This left me the flexibility to go to my house where volunteers showed up to help pack. Plus, it gave me lots of time with my friends throughout the day. It was a nice break for me and it gave our nanny more time to get to know Ella in the controlled environment of the hospital.

We made great progress on the packing and even had some friends offer to load up their cars and take a drive to our house to unload belongings. We made a huge dent in the packing and feel confident that the move will take place without too much chaos!

The next few days will be key for Ella stabilizing out so we can take her home. Please pray for us to get our rest, and for everything to fall into place for the move. The weather report is stating rain all day on Saturday. Please help us pray for no rain! It will make the move even that much more challenging if we have imminent weather upon us.

Psalm 69:16
Answer my prayers, O Lord,
for your unfailing love is wonderful.
Take care of me,
for your mercy is so plentiful.