EEEEEEEEeeeEEEE!!!!!

Oh my goodness.

PRAISE GOD from whom ALL blessings flow!

Annabelle has had a F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C. DAY!!!!!!

Recap:

A TON of Positive notes

• Her one and only chest tube was REMOVED… the quickest a chest tube has EVER been taken out for Annabelle!
• Her ART line was taken out because they didn’t need it!
• At 2:00 a.m. she was taken OFF vapotherm and put on regular oxygen at 4 liters.
• At this moment, she is down to only a 1/2 of a liter and her sats are WONDERFUL… like 98 – 100 wonderful! She hasn’t dipped at ALL today, even while they weaned!
• They stopped Milrinone and all IV drips today! And her BP wasn’t too shabby, so they haven’t even started enalapril (BP medicine that helps with heart failure that she was on since a week after transplant. In the past we have transitioned to this when we turned off Milrinone.)
• She is officially BED-BOARDED… which means as soon as there is a bed available, we will be headed OUT of ICU!!! Hopefully tomorrow!

Things to still pray about

• She had a fever today of 38.4. It came down on its own, which is GREAT news, and we aren’t really worried, but just prayers that she stays with NO fever are appreciated. This is not totally uncommon after surgery and after coming off Morphine.
• She had a very brief episode of SVT today. This is where her heart rate increases rapidly to a very fast rate, basically an error in the electric currents from your heart. It came down on its own, and they think this was because her potassium is low, but they replaced the potassium and it has been fine since. Again, they aren’t too concerned about it, but just something to watch.
• Given her AWESOME weaning on oxygen, we are VERY hopefully that we can actually get OFF oxygen before going home, or pretty close. This would be SO SO SO SO SO wonderful, although as long as my baby is home, I have no problem dealing with oxygen!
• Annabelle needs SLEEP. She was awake ALL night last night, and only took a few brief naps today. We are going to give her Melatonine tonight to hopefully help her sleep. She was on a REALLY good sleep schedule when we were home, so please pray that we can get back to that point. She is pretty cranky today because she hasn’t been able to fall asleep likes she wants too.

She’ll have another ECHO tomorrow, and that will tell us how her heart function is doing. But so far, everything is really looking SO SO SO much better, and everyone is pretty sure that the fix WORKED.

I am beside myself with elation today. It has been such a hard and scary week, but God has been faithful, as he always is.

We even got a “sleep” room last night, letting Scott be able to stay with me, which is a HUGE blessing because I don’t really like staying at the hospital without him (not to mention that I got to sleep on an actual bed instead of a pull-out chair!)

Bittersweet is what I’d call this afternoon, though. I went to work and cleaned out my desk. My retainer period is over, and from this point I will help on projects as they need only. It is scary… I won’t lie. This has been my job since 2004, and I’ve gone through three promotions (Admin to specialist to supervisor to manager) I put my heart into my work, but now I get to put my heart into my kiddos. It’s just… scary. Yes, that is a good word for it. But God knows. And we trust Him.

And we went out to dinner with my parents tonight, which was a much needed break of laughter (I get my sarcasm from my Daddy!!) And Scott and I rented a movie to watch in Annabelle’s room tonight.

Over-all, it was a much needed good day! And we thank Jesus for every minute of it! That is one thing I’ve really learned to do this last year. Hold on and treasure every second of your good days. They help get you through the bad ones. 🙂

See the blur of her hand? She was rubbing her head back and forth. I think she thinks she’s a lamp and there is a genie inside!

GEEZ Mom! Have a little camera with that flash!