Thank you all for praying for Ella. Today was a day like none other. We were tried in ways that we could never have imagined. Praise the Lord that He never left us.
Ella had a procedure done called a chest flush this afternoon. Essentially, they removed any excess fluids/tissues from her chest. They were also able to see that her lung had taken on some fluid so they removed that as well. She has been getting a little bit too much blood to her lungs from the shunt that they put in during Monday's procedure. The surgeons thought that they may need to adjust the shunt, but they decided against it later.
Apparently before the procedure was done, Ella had another little "episode", as Dr. Watanabe (the other primary surgeon) calls it, where her heart rate dropped. Because of the episode that Ella endured from the ventilator, we were told that, unfortunately, she may have more of these kinds of episodes. We are praying that God protects her from this.
After the procedure, they decided to give Ella the medication that keeps her sedated in a drip IV, whereas before it was just through a bolus and given just whenever needed. They're hoping to slowly wean her off of all of the medications.
We talked with Ashley, the surgeon's assistant, for a while this evening. She is amazing. I know I keep saying that about every person that takes care of Ella but it's true! Ashley said how she started receiving texts this morning about what happened to Ella and told us that she said to herself, "No! This can't be happening to her, she is too perfect!" We think so too 😉. She also explained how Ella's condition yesterday before the incident was a "rock star condition", and was rare. But now that she's experienced some set backs, her condition is more common (and I said, "or rocky, instead of rock star").
I then asked Ashley for things that I should ask you all to pray for and she said pray for Ella to have a calm night and that her lung/circulatory system blood flow would balance out as it needs to. She is also pretty swollen still and taking on lots of fluids and we want her to excrete more of them.
Ashley then said to tell you all that there were some silver linings that deserve praise from God that happened during the ventilator malfunction. First, the ICU doctor sat in Ella's room all night, so he was right there when her heart rate dropped and was able to step in and do compressions quickly. The doctors are often found in the halls rather than in the actual rooms. I believe this helped save her from her heart stopping completely. Praise the Lord!!! She also said another positive thing that happened was that Dr. Nasirof (the surgeon) was getting ready to leave for his job at Stanford so he was already dressed and awake and was able to get to the hospital to help Ella in 2 minutes. I love that she told us to make sure to point out to you all that there were good things that happened in the midst of the horror. She called these "a God thing". And it's true, we could've lost her had these two things not happened.
Dr. Nasirof will be sleeping at the hospital to keep a careful eye on Ella tonight. Can you believe that? I don't know how we will ever be able to thank these doctors and nurses enough.
We felt at peace when we said goodnight to our little girl tonight and know she's in the care of some incredible people. Matt gave Ella a kiss on her head before we left. I had him do it again because it was so sweet and I needed a picture of it! We praise God that there are people that value life so much that they would devote their lives to saving those that look like they have no chance. Keep praying, we are far from holding our baby in our arms, but each day we continue to get a little closer.
We will find out in the morning if Ella will be able to have the surgery to get her chest closed tomorrow afternoon or if it will be at a later time. We pray for discernment and wisdom for the doctors.
Love to you all,
Matt and Jillian
The story of our journey with a daughter diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS)... And as it continues with our son with a VSD.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
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God is definitely looking out for your girl! Can’t wait to see the pic of Matt kissing her head-so sweet. Your nurses and Dr sound amazing. -Claire
ReplyDeleteThanks for the updates, Jillian. I know that God is watching over your family. Amazing things do happen with God's love, which I know is what you are feeling. Prayers continue.
ReplyDeleteCindy