Saturday, July 26, 2008

Who's in charge?

If we have learned anything from Gracie within these last few weeks is that she is completely her own unique and amazing person, that seems to respond and react in ways that are just mind boggling. I don't know if the doctors feel this way, buy from what they tell us and then how Grace responds, I'm left wondering and in awe of my little fighting miracle.

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, Gracie had gone to the Cath lab and the doctors initially couldn't find anything wrong, so they were having other cardiologists and surgeons look at the images to see if someone could find the reason for Grace's ever fluctuating oxygenation levels. So though I was taken back this morning I wasn't too surprised when Grace's nurse told me that the doctors thought that they found a place that could be stinted open a little more and perhaps this would help with her oxygen levels. The plan was that she would hopefully go back to the Cath lab on Monday if they could get her on the schedule.


But when we got to the hospital today we astonished to find out that she had been weened down drastically on the ventilator. Apparently Grace's surgeon poked his head into her room this morning and told the nurse to try coming down on the vent because he didn't think it would change her stats much. Gracie went from a rate of 34 breathes to 20 and from 80 percent oxygen to 35 percent!!! This is a great step forward, especially because her oxygenation levels continued to stay above the cutoff point!! So it seems as if she was getting too much oxygen possibly and that is why her levels were going up and down.

It sounds as if for now they won't be doing the procedure on Monday. I think they just want to watch her and see how she continues to do and if she can continue to maintain the numbers she has been having on her blood gases. But it definitely seems as if she has turned a corner and has made up her mind that she isn't going to give in! There are still a lot of obstacles that she has to conquer but Gracie is certainly moving in the right direction.

Thank you all for your many prayers, I know that they have been heard and answered.

4 comments:

David and Katie said...

We are so happy to hear the good news! She looks so great in the pictures you posted! -Katie & David Ollmann

Shayla Taylor said...

HURRAY! HURRAY! HURRAY! Way to go Grace! What a fighter!

Michelle said...

Wow-she looks great in those pictures! Her color looks so good, and she is so alert. I love that little girl!

Melanie said...

Those pictures are just adorable! She's looking so much better! I'm so thrilled for you guys that she's making such good forward progress!