Tuesday, September 24, 2013

A Closed Chest... Yay!

This morning started with a call to Maia's nurse to check how she was doing. The nurse said Maia had a good, restful night and was doing well this morning. Today, we also had a meeting with Dr. Cohen, the surgeon, (aka "the other Gordon"), along with some of the cardiac doctors and nurses, and also the social worker... to discuss the next steps for Maia and to see if we have any questions or issues we'd like to talk about with them.

We arrive to a quiet and peaceful cardiac unit, a rare sight when compared to the last few days! The nurse says Maia's been doing well and resting. Our first glimpse of her today and she looks good, very good! Yesterday, she looked good but a bit tired and sad... but seeing her today we noticed she looked a lot better, and we can also see her bed! There were fewer tubes and lines criss-crossing around her! This sight made us so happy! She was still asleep so we did our best not to disturb her.

Next we had our little meeting with some members of the cardiac team. Dr. Cohen explained that this time around, Maia handled the chest closure extremely well and her blood pressure went up immediately after it was all done, unlike the first time. They also removed 3 of the chest tubes and the cannula (tube) in her thigh that was being used for dialysis. She's on very little medication right now and is tolerating everything, especially the chest closure very well and the doctors are all pleased. For now she will remain on the ECMO heart/lung machine, which is also doing the dialysis. Dr. Cohen says Maia's heart is fine and is actually doing most of the work on her own, so he would like to take her off the heart support in the next few days, and just keep her on the lung support and dialysis. They would like to slowly wean her off the machine little by little, and see how she progresses. This past day has been her best recovery day so far and we're all hoping this continues.


Maia getting some rest

Maia, eyes wide open & checking out what's going on around her

After our meeting with the doctors and nurses, we go back to Maia's room to spend some more time with her. Like always, she seems to recognize Marcus' voice and immediately wakes up and opens her eyes! Marcus says he learned a new song in school today and sings the song to Maia, who can't stop staring at her big brother. Afterwards, she gets a pep talk from mommy and daddy before falling asleep again. Although we know this is just the beginning, we are all so happy to see her doing so well. She's beginning to make some progress in the right direction! It's been a rough 3 weeks and we only hope to move forward from here! 

Marcus serenading Maia

Once again we'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone for their prayers, love, and support... our family is truly grateful and we cannot thank you enough! We are blessed.


2 comments:

  1. Yay, that's so wonderful!!!!!! Praise Jesus! :)

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  2. I love her already!! Can't wait til she comes home!!

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