Monday, March 16, 2009

where do I start?

After my last post on Friday, Gracie had numerous desating spells, but eventually calmed down enough and was able to rest comfortably. Throughout the weekend Gracie spiked many fevers, so cultures were sent and we are awaiting any growths. Today was a good day, where her highest temp was only 38.5, though she was more cranky and agitated today then yesterday.

The Attending on this week is remarkable and has made it her personal duty to investigate and find out what is really going on with Gracie. Yesterday, the Attending asked one of the cardiologist on duty to go through all of her echos since her Glenn to see if anything was being missed--this cardiologist thinks it is beneficial to do either an MRI or Heart cath to see what is going on with the blood flow in her heart. It was decided that an MRI would be safer than a cath, especially since we would have to wait for the cath because of fevers.

Unfortunately Gracie will need to be intubated for the MRI since she needs to be sedated and well, she needs more than a boat load of sedatives to do the job. The MRI is scheduled for 12pm tomorrow afternoon, so she will be sedated in the PICU and then taken down for the MRI. After the MRI she will be brought back to her bed and they will most likely do a TEE---its an echo where a probe is placed down the esophagus to get closer pictures of her heart, to look for possible infection. I'm not looking forward to being intubated, but I'm grateful that we will hopefully have answers to what is going on with my sweet little girl. Lets just hope that after the sedatives have worn off, we will be able to extubate without a problem.

5 comments:

Amy Finnegan {BookshopTalk.com} said...

Oh man, I'm sorry she's taking you on this roller coaster all over again. It's like you have an emotional teenager (though this is physical drama!) in a 15 pound body!

I can tell how much you love that little girl, and no matter how hard it is to help her through this, you are even more dedicated today than you were yesterday to keeping her healthy.

God bless you - you're a wonderful mom :)

Laurie said...

Each time that I read your blog I am amazed at Gracie's strength and determination. We pray for you daily.

Shauna said...

Aaron and I were out for a walk the other day and he has been talking A LOT about being a pediatric cardiologist. After shadowing a pediatrician, I remember him saying I don't think I could operate on babies. So I have been puzzeled as to why he has been talking about it so regularly. I asked him why he changed his mind and he answered with one word...Grace. I instantly understood. We are hoping and praying for Grace. She has touched our hearts and will forever remain in our minds as Aaron enters med school.

The Simmons Family said...

Oh my... we'll be PRAYING!!! I hope that they find the source of what's causing her desatting issues.

Melissa said...

Checking to see how the MRI is going