Sunday, April 22, 2012

Day #3 post-op

11:33 p.m.
:-(  She has a temp of 38.1 C. (100.6 F).  Blood, urine and breathing tube cultures have all been drawn and sent to the lab.  Bump, bump, bump down the road of recovery we go.


9:46 p.m.
Got her moved to her new bed.  What a production!!!  Her weight is up 18.7 lbs. since she was admitted March 31st and 15.4 of that is just since surgery!!!  Granted she's got a much larger liver...but still.  She is still having a fabulous response to her last dose of Lasix.  She's calm and I'm praying she has a calm night.


Been thinking a lot about her donor today.  I wonder if her/his funeral was today?  Did they already have it?  Was there a funeral?  How is the family?  Do they know that their decision saved my daughter's life and we will forever be grateful?  Do they know that their loved one lives on now in my child?  Sigh...mind boggling.

7:36 p.m.
Good day.  Her hemoglobin went up to 9.1 after this morning's transfusion.  The surgeon wants it up in the double digits, but no higher than 12.  She got another transfusion this afternoon.  They doubled her dose of Lasix dose and it is working very well.  Shelby's lungs are really liking the Nitric Oxide.  Her FiO2 setting went from 85% down to 50% and her sats went from low-mid 80's up to 92-95.  Very happy.  Our nurse, Meghan, who has been a "regular" for Shelby did a lot with her today.  Lots of talking to her and Shelby responding appropriately.  My baby is in there!  She seems very comfortable and has responded well to Meghan talking to her to calm down.  Suzy is on tonight we love her, too :-)  Shortly they'll be moving Shelby to a bed with a scale so they can get daily weights on her.  Let's pray for a peaceful, relaxing night.     

11:31 a.m.
No OR today :-(  She is still about 400 ml's fluid-positive.  The surgeon wants her to ideally be fluid-negative.  They are also going to boost her hemoglobin some more.  They are talking Tuesday :-( for closing her.  Her sats starting running lower last night (like 85%) and just now they dropped down to 80.  The ICU doctors and nurses, the liver team, pulmonology, etc. all need to get on the same page and find out what they're comfortable with as far as her O2 levels go.  This will take some time.  They are going to try some Nitric Oxide today to see if that makes it able for them to go down on some of her vent settings.  We just still wait.  On this side of transplant, though :-)  On this side.

6:04 a.m.
Hemoglobin is just on the low side at 8 so in preparation for going to the OR today, she is getting a unit of blood.  THANK YOU BLOOD DONORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


4:57 a.m.
My shift of sleep is over; now its Scott's turn.  I turned to my little Keurig next to me to help wake me up :-)  Shelby's night went alright.  She did have a couple "episodes" of restlessness.  She lifts her arms, kicks her legs, tries to lift her head and shakes it "No."  Heartbreaking, for sure, and tough to hold her hands and legs down - man she is strong!  The nurse gets more meds on board and then she settles down.  I really ask for prayers that tomorrow (oops, just re-reading this at 9:25 a.m. and I meant today) she can go back to the OR and be "closed up" so that after that, when she does show us those times of strength, her vent settings can be lowered, along with her constant morphine drip so we can work towards getting her off the ventilator.  She had another chest x-ray about an hour ago so we pray that that looks good.  She received more Lasix in the night so I hope to hear during rounds that she pulled off enough fluid to be closed up.  We are very thrilled with her progress.  I don't anticipate her liver numbers to have any problems this morning.  They have been trending down very nicely every time they draw them.  Of course, Shelby's were hardly elevated (and most were normal!) to begin with so they are amazingly high compared to that, but it is to be expected because that "new" liver did just go through quite a shock.  Please ask your church families to continue to hold her up in prayer.  She still has a long way to go.  I will try to update after rounds. 
Just wanted to take a moment to THANK Adele and Tom, Amy, and Chris and Heather for helping with Riley and Avery; Pastor Jane Eesley for visiting us the day of surgery; Bruce and Lori and Noelle for sitting with us and my parents during surgery AND to my parents for...um...everything! They have been with us since Thursday morning and it means more to Scott and I then we'll ever be able to express with just a "Thank you!" Also, to everyone who's offered prayers and encouraging words on Facebook, here, Shelby's COTA page and through phone calls or texts - thank you! I cannot imagine going through this without this "community" to hold us up :-)

3 comments:

Connie (CUMC) said...

Bless you, Martin family. I know "jillions" of prayers have been raised for you.

Lori and Bruce said...

We are happy to read your 7:36 pm post. Just wanted you to know that Bruce & I were here and check your blog frequently each day. Thank you for your updates! I know you must be exhausted in so many ways. We are persistent in our prayers for the Martin 5. Love to you all!
Bruce, Lori, Bre & Ray

Anonymous said...

Hoping the temperature comes down quickly, and the 'culprit' for it has already been removed.
All my best recovery wishes for Shelby! Will check in on her more regularly once my holiday is over.
Sven (from LF)