Lots of suctioning

It was a busy morning. Gabi will need to stay on the ventilator for another day at least. She is doing well (initiating breaths on her own), but just can't seem to clear the yucky stuff that is in her lungs. She is needing to be suctioned often, which she really doesn't like. It looks like the fluid in her lungs is still coming from her perfusion injury (her lungs couldn't handle all that blood pumping into them because they were used to going without for so long). The extra fluid and gunk is still being produced by her lungs because of this injury and inflammation. Doctors are unsure why she is having so much trouble dealing with all this stuff in her lungs, whether it is because of other infection or disease process. We just have to be patient and see. Several cultures are coming back positive for little "bugs" (bacteria, yeast, etc.) that may have been dormant in her body but have now tried to attack her in her weakened state. Another echocardiogram was done this morning to make sure that her heart repair wasn't contributing to her lung trouble and it is not. Her repair looks "great" and her heart is doing well today to keep up with all the stress. Gabi could use some extra prayer for peace. She has been quite agitated and that makes it very hard for the staff to suction her and other procedures. When she fights them too much they have to give her more medication to help her relax and this in turn sets off a roller coaster of reaction to her heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, etc. It is a constant battle to keep everything within the best limits for her to rest and heal, but also to gradually allow her to move forward.

Thanks for your concern for her mama and papa too. I slept pretty well last night, a few longer chunks and I have been blessed with the ability to wake up quickly and fall back to sleep very quickly. David has been able to be here each day to give me breaks and keep me company. There are other families here going through much the same as us or worse, so we have been able to encourage one another. Jeremiah, Daniel, and Anna are doing very well with Grampa and Yaya and they have been able to visit daily as well.

All for now...thanks!