Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Today was not good. A lot happened. I'll try to keep it all straight.

They had to switch the ECMO circuit. That in itself went fine. About an hour afterwards, there was an emergency where the pump was stopping. She had to basically be "on her own" for a little bit. They had to bag her, which means manually blow air into her lungs. Her heart never stopped. She recovered and they said that, for some reason, the pump was sensing pressure against it. It was pumping blood into her heart and was getting pressure against it, so it turns off to prevent "an explosion." The good news was that when they were bagging her, her stats went up, which means that air was in her lungs. So, her lungs are inflated now, at least a little bit.

Then she had another surgery to clean out her chest. That in itself went well. They took one of her retractors out. Afterwards, her blood pressure dropped and the pump got clogged. This was another emergency. They had to clamp the pump off, and again she was on her own. She didn't do as well as before. They had to give her adrenaline. She does have an infection in the middle of her chest. They think that when they cleaned her out, they disturbed the bacteria (which grows on the plastic tubes in her chest) and showered her body with toxins. They also think that she might not be liking one of her 4 antibiotics too well. Again, she stabilized. They said she might just be getting used to the new ECMO circuit.

There are about 10 million variables that they have to think about and find the right balance for. She is so small, there is not a lot of room for error. This is an indescribable experience, it is a nightmare. I pray that she makes it through the night.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our Hearts and Prayers are with Abigail, and with all of you.
Tracy and all of TIC GUMS R&D Department.

Unknown said...

We are praying for you guys and little Abby. She is a fighter. We love you all!

Heather said...

We love you Abby! Keep on fighting. Cousins Maddie and Zak can't wait to meet you and to teach you how to get into all kinds of trouble!

Love
Aunt Heather, Uncle Steve, Maddie & Zak

Anonymous said...

We are all thinking about you guys at work. Keep fighting Abby! We are praying for you.

Anonymous said...

Our thoughts and prayers are with Abby and the family.

Love,

Selena, Jackie, Amy, Donna, Connie