Hammond Family

Moving forward, one day at a time.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Emily's Day

I'm home with Robby and Lily right now, and Robby's sister is at the hospital with Emily. It's nice to be home together-it's the first time we have since Em went in Monday night/Tuesday morning. We tried
lily on rice cereal tonight, which was fun. She seemed to like it! Emily's day was okay. Her x-ray looked much better today, and she had a good night last night. She's up to full feedings through her g-tube. She was awake a few times and opened her eyes, and would move her mouth and eyebrows when I talked to her.
This afternoon they suctioned her quite a bit, and she then had another episode where her body became stressed-she was trying to breathe over what the ventilator was doing for her, and looked like she was struggling to breathe. Her CO2 levels increased and her blood pressure decreased. They increased the blood pressure medicine by quite a bit. They eventually (after several hours) increased her ventilator settings, and that helped her. They definitly think it was a pulminary hyper-tension related issue. This time, her oxygen dropped a little, but not like it did two days ago, so that was good. They also didn't have to put her back on the paralyzing medince. They feel like the oxygen didn't drop as much because they now have her on the nitric oxide, which helps pulminary hyper-tension.
I know that some people have asked/wondered if the doctors have given us any type of time line, or if they know what Emily's chances are of being able to go home. The answer is, no. The doctor today was fairly optomistic, and said maybe next week sometime she may be able to come of the ventillator, and felt like Emily's doing better than they expected her to do, but they really didn't expect her to do well at all. We do not talk much about if/when she may be able to come home, because she is still on life support, and things can change in a matter of seconds when you are in that type of situation in intensive care. I wish we had more answers, but we know that they can not give us a timeline because they can not know what Emily will do given less support. Thank you all for your prayers, both for Emily that she and her lungs will continue to heal, and for Robby and I, that we will have peace and know what is best for Emily.

7 comments:

Min said...

Thank you for keeping us up to date! We think of you and Em all the time and are praying for you. Love you!

Barlow Fam said...

We are still thinking about you and sending prayers your way. I'm sorry I haven't called, but figure that this isn't the time. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. We love you and your sweet family.

Amy Jo said...

My family got together tonight and you guys are all in our thoughts and prayers. You and Robby are such great parents and an example to all us.

cornter said...

Hugs and kisses to you all!

Richard Bradford said...

We are so grateful for the email updates. We are sending lots of love and prayers your way.
- Cynthia

Beckie said...

I hope this gets better for you guys. Wish we were there to help.

Molly said...

I hope you and Robbie have peace and comfort with you and I am saying lots of prayers for you guys. Emily is a lucky girl to have you pair as her mommy and daddy. :) hugs, molly