Mira's 2nd day post op

Written Oct 23, 2011 8:42am by Amber Gannon Medina

Mira-

We spent all day yesterday with Miss Mira. She is currently in the CICU and is hooked up to so many cords and beepers and drugs. Her chest has been left open to allow for swelling and also to give the doctors easy access to check on her packing and do what they call "exploration". They had to do that yesterday morning-her urine output and heart gases were not where they should be and they wanted to check to make sure there were no clots and that the packing around the heart was not pressing on anything. Everything came up looking good. 

Throughout the day she was where one doctor said he expected her to be at this stage. Another doctor said they were a little concerned. However, around 5pm she started giving them the urine output they wanted!! It was a small hurdle surpassed but it was a victory!

She has been put into what is essentially a medical coma so that she is calm and free of any pain. They printed out descriptions of all the medications she is on, and boy is that an impressive pile. Poor baby is on a lot, and they are trying to bring that amount down. She looks pretty puffy-going through such a long surgery and not able to get rid of her fluids causes her to swell. She is still a beautiful girl:) 

She has had so many visitors and even the nurses we had in the NICU-before the surgery-commented on how much she loves company. Its been so hard to leave her at night, to see her little body laying there all alone. However, we realize its important to take care of ourselves, get some rest and have respite from the hospital. Being in the ICU every day, hearing all the jargon and medical terminology and seeing your baby like this is hard work. 

We are back to the hospital today. Its our hope that the next few hurdles-getting the lactic acid out of her system and the white blood cell count down (possibly a sign of infection or stress on the body) will be surmounted today...