She has recovered slightly from her surgery/set-back on Sunday. Her ventilator continues to be gradually weaned. She is actually on very low settings right now. However, with her sepsis, they are hesitant to take her off of the ventilator too soon. She no longer need medicine to maintain her blood pressure. Most importantly, her "fiesty-ness" is starting to come back.
Her blood infection (sepsis) remains serious. They changed one of her central lines today, in hopes that would improve her infection (the bacteria could've been growing inside of that line). Her test to check for meningitis (lumbar puncture) has been postponed for the last 2 days because her platelet count is low. This is to be expected if you saw how much blood they have to draw each day for various labwork, blood gases, etc. Also, her body is trying to fight the infection, so is using all of her blood cells to do so. She received her 3rd blood transfusion yesterday and received platelet transfusions last night and tonight. Hopefully, they will be able to do the lumbar puncture tomorrow.
She also had another cranial sector scan (head ultrasound) today. They just want to be sure that her traumatic day on Sunday did not cause any changes in her brain. I should find out the results tomorrow morning.
I finally got to talk to someone from the surgical team today. The nurse practitioner came to answer my questions about their plan. As of now, they are happy with her progress. The drains in her abdomen continue to drain less and less. They are hopeful that by NEXT weekend they can remove the drains and the tear in her intestine will have closed on it's own. If her infection has improved at that point, they will assess restarting her feeding. (Right now she is just getting nutrition through an IV.) They may do a test (contrast study) to examine her intestine before starting feeds or they may just try a little bit and see how she tolerates it. Her behavior over the next week will determine what they decide.
A BIG milestone today.....Juliet opened her eyes for the first time! I tried so hard all day to get a picture with her eyes open, but she wasn't cooperating. :) I did have a mini photo shoot in honor of her 2 week birthday. Here's the peanut!
Here is Juliet's current home - POD D - Bed 17
These are the 2 hospitals that we have been patients of in the last 2 wks. Norfolk General is the brown building on the left. Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters is the white building on the right.
Here is my current "home away from home" - check out who's on the front porch. :)
My transporation to Norfolk General....
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