"Fighting Hard"
Emerson made it through the night. She's febrile, her heart is racing, her belly remains very hard and distended, and her coloring is not good. She received plasma & platelets last evening and blood transfusions throughout the night. Her hemoglobin is dropping which would suggest internal bleeding. The hope is that her body will begin to clot and reabsorb the blood. The surgeon said to imagine a large hole – the bowel is gone & her body cavity is filling with blood and fluid. Her blood gases (an indicator of lung stability) have been poor and she’s very acidotic. On a positive note, though, her blood pressure remains stable. Most didn’t expect that.
The plan right now is to take Emerson back to surgery tomorrow morning to re-examine & wash out the body cavity. If she deteriorates quickly today, though, they’ll take her down sooner. If her blood gases don’t improve, she’ll be transferred to the high-frequency vent (the oscillator). Continual dialysis will be restarted this morning.
The surgeon said her hope is to give Eme’s body time to heal and strengthen before we re-list. She actually isn’t even a candidate for transplant right now. She’s too sick – she must be infection free, and her lungs and kidneys must be stronger. She must have a fighting chance to survive transplant or she won’t be relisted. I asked the surgeon how long that would take…she said we have a little time, but wasn’t willing to speculate as to exactly how long. She said we’re still just trying to “get through today”.
Jim made it in safely and the surgeon has ordered me to get some sleep. No promises, but I’ll try my best…
Please pray for Emerson!!
What an amazing little girl. I just spent the past hour reading through her website. WOW. what a fighter she is. I am praying for her and her family.
ReplyDeleteI'm praying for sweet Emerson. What a beautiful little girl.
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