Law of Averages

Law of averages.

Written Nov 2, 2011 4:51pm by Amber Gannon Medina

I think I love the tough days here at the hospital. I love them because when you are worried and stressed and feel horrible, you know the next day has got to be better. And that is usually the way it works.

Yesterday was still a rough day, although after Monday's fiasco, it was still a breeze. We came to the hospital earlier than usual in order to sit in on Mira's rounds. Of course we understood only part of what the doctors discussed (using huge doctor words like they do), but we were able to talk to one of the doctors that heads up the CICU and I was able to voice some of my concerns about what had happened Monday night. I felt pretty satisfied that the doctor admitted it had been in his words-a suboptimal situation. Suboptimal seems more like a politically correct doctor word, (when a mother might have used a word like a nightmare) but it satisfied my need to know the doctor believed that it was a situation that could have been handled better. Much better.

I think I was still a little shaken by what had happened the night before, so yesterday when they told us they had decided to go in and perform a surgery they label an "exploration", it felt like another punch in the gut. Its a less serious surgery than a bypass, but still requires Mira to be put under and her heart to be manhandled (in a doctorly way of course). It still carries risks and complications.

Knowing she was going back to surgery was made even more difficult because Mira was wide awake for most of the day, and when she is more coherent you really end up seeing what they are doing effects her very much. When she is up and "active" she does things like follow peoples' voices and movements, open her mouth for food, make tons of facial expressions (happy and sad) and reacts to people touching her....Its hard to send her into another surgery when you are reminded she is this little person who feels and thinks....

So Mira went into surgery at around 3pm and we were updated a few hours later (we went home-I've found sitting around and waiting is torture, and there is nothing we can do at that point anyhow). We were happy AND perplexed to find that although they still may take measurements of her hearts structures, Mira's heart looks good. This is good because it means she won't have to go into surgery to repair anything. However, besides putting in another tube to drain the extra fluid around her tummy, and cleaning out her heart with antibiotics, they still aren't quite sure what they can do to speed up her recovery. 

However, we just arrived at the hospital and she looks good! This morning she had a little fever (possible sign of infection) and needed some plasma, but I am focused on how good her tummy looks! It looks so much less swollen, along with the rest of her body. They were also able to put in the line that gave them so much trouble (in ONE try-whooo hooo!). 

So today feels good. Today has got to be better than yesterday. Or the day before. And it is better. So there it is-the law of averages working in our favor. As my grandfather would have said-UPWARD and onward!!