I arrived back at Seattle Children's this morning at 6:30am. The word was that Zoe had done great---until she somehow knocked her breathing tube out at 4am when the nurse had her back turned for a couple minutes. Her oxygen levels dipped, but, as it turned out, there was an anesthesiologist and respiratory therapist right outside the door.
They descended on her immediately and had everything back in shape in a matter of minutes.
Zoe wasn't born in the year of the very lucky Golden Boar for nothing.
After that little excitement, they put restraints on her arms so it wouldn't happen again. She is definitely in the care of a great team.
The good news discovered within this event was that Zoe's passageway was not swollen or inflamed. The anesthesiologist could replace the breathing tube with one of the same size without any problem. It was this very experience that would have created a bad issue had they proceeded a month ago when she was coming down with a cold. Had they not been able to replace the tube she would have needed an emergency tracheotomy.
Now, I got it.
Other than that, she continues to do well. She spiked a low grade fever last night and then again today, but they said it was to be expected. Blood cultures last night said she was still infection free; they will run some more cultures tonight.
Tomorrow they plan to do another CT scan. We hear that it will be more likely that they will wait until Monday to bring her out of sedation. The truth of the matter is that they will have more staff on hand come Monday to handle anything that may come up once they take her breathing tube out and bring her out of sedation. While I am impatient for Zoe to wake up, I am glad that they are vigilant about risk minimization.
Jeff had a couple of good conversations last night with other parents. One was the father of an young teenager whose heart stopped in PE class; the other was the mother of an eleven year old who has had just a very difficult journey with an extreme cleft palate. He has had 12 surgeries so far in his life and the last one did not go well. He is in the next bed over from Zoe, also in a sedated state for at least three days to give fragile damaged mouth blood vessel a chance to heal.
He said that it was good to talk to other parents--and it seemed good for them as well.
We are all in the trenches here.
Jeff goes home tonight; I stay the night with Zoe.
I really, really hope it is a boring night.
1 comment:
You are remarkable. All three of you are holding a space so far outside "the box" as being individuals that can and will dig deeper and deeper for what you believe. And to top that off...you are still open enough to discover some of the reasons Zoe and the Universe decided to wait until Nov. There is so much that you are all giving back to the others around you. A peace that perhaps they could not attain alone. And for that I thank you and I am in awe of your unconditional human spirit.
My love and prayers are forever being sent.
By the by, I am so sick (pun intended) of being sick. I am a low grade germ. But I am making dolls and spending my time thinking of Zoe as I work. But I miss you all. Looking so very forward to seeing you all again soon.
with love, nana brooke
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