Sorry for the late posting today. Just got a break in the action to report.
Tessa is increasingly more awake and active. All of her vitals are pretty good for the most part. Lungs are improving although there is some concern about a part of one of her lungs that was affected in the catastrophe earlier in the week. I won't go into the details because it's too early to tell what it means right now but the good thing is that her decreasing dependence on the ventillator should only help heal her lungs. One problem is that she's coughing up alot of gunk, which is a good thing because it's natural for the body to expel all that fluid that has accumulated however the coughing also agitates and inflames the lung tissue so it's a double-edged sword.
She's also very fidgety and shifty. Part of it is just waking up and being annoyed by all the hardware attached to her. It's also a result of all the narcotics she's had pumped into her the last two weeks. It's similar behavior to what a heroin junkie goes through during withdrawal. In addition, since she's been off the dialysis maching going on 20 hours now, a certain chemical that the kidneys normally filter and expel is building up in her system. That particular chemical is also a skin agitant. It's really tough to see her so uncomfortable and apart from giving her Benadryl and scratching her belly, there's not a whole lot we can do ease her discomfort.
Kidneys are the same. Still no wee-wee.
Secondary infection is still being sorted out. I think they've almost gotten to the bottom of the mystery so hopefully her fever and associated blood pressure issues will be resolved soon.
She had a great night last night and relative to past days is having a good day but there are still so many ups and downs that we're contending with. It's a two steps forward, one step back mode that we're in and Katie and I are having a tougher time trying to keep our patience with all this. We just want her to come home.
PS. Thanks Andi Hatch for those scrumptious noodles last night and for visiting Tess!
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