Day 4 - let the ride continue...

Hannah's wednesday night was alright according to Dad(Greg).  He seems to think the pain caught up with her and she was up about every hour and half in a pretty uncomfortable state.  Overall though, everything else seemed to be stable.  They got a break in the schedule and took Hannah back to the OR to start her closure at about 945am.  I finally made it up here around 1050am and as soon as I walked in the nurse had gotten a phone call from the OR saying her surgeon was done.  Shortly there after he was here to talk with us.  He said they closed her about 70% of the way and did not need to do the chest tube.  The Xray from this morning showed minimal fluid around her lungs so that seemed to improve.  He mentioned he could have closed her all the way, but didn't want to take any chances.   They were also able to take the breathing tube out in the OR which was great!

Her afternoon went very well.  She was stable and the most alert we have seen her yet.  She seemed comfortable and did not cry hardly at all.  The surgeon and team came by to see her later in the afternoon and seemed happy with her progress.  Her drains were putting out a decent amount of blood once again so they did make the decision to give her some more blood products, which she has responded too.
Greg went to go pick Jacob up from school and when he got off the elevators, he immediately said, "I want to see Hannah."  We made the decision to let him see her, but first tried to explain that she has a lot of "medicine tubes."  I brought him to her room and we stood outside and looked through the window for a minute.  I asked him,"do you still want to go in and see Hannah?"  He responded with a big "Yes" and a smile on his face.  We brought him to her bedside and she was sleeping.  He looked at her and said, "Hi sweetie! Wake up sweetie!"  It was to cute because she immediately opened her eyes and looked right at him.  Then he gave her a kiss and that was about it.  He was done after that!  Typical 3 1/2 year old!! Overall, he did awesome!  I am truly amazed by how strong my children are in two totally different ways.  They have taught me so much about life and what truly matters.

Tonight she started to start breathing a little faster and her temperature spiked.  They decided to get another chest X-ray to rule out any problems or possibly pneumonia.  The preliminary results didn't show much difference, but they started her on another antibiotic just to be safe.  I think the real issue is that she needs to start coughing and she doesn't like to because it hurts to much.  I can only imagine that is pretty painful with an incision as big as hers!!  She seems to be responding well because now her breathing is more regular and her temperature is starting to trend down.  They might have respiratory come in later and do some exercises with her to get her to cough to clear her lungs.

All in all, it has been an alright day.  She still continues to have ups and downs, but her liver seems to be working the way it should be for the time being.  I do not like to get to excited just because I know there is going to be many hills on this roller coaster, so I continue to be "cautiously optimistic".  To sum up how she is doing, the best way to put it is -  that she is heading in the right direction, but we are keeping are game face on!

Tonight Greg is home with Jacob and I am here with Hannah.  Last night I could not tell you how it felt to sleep in our bed because that is exactly what I did.  Really what I did was basically pass out.  The second I knew Jacob was asleep, I was about 5 minutes behind him.  Next thing, I knew it was 530am!  So I did get a decent amount of sleep last night, and now it is Greg's turn!!  Daddy definitely deserves it because I was just told by Hannah's nurse that every time she woke up last night he was on it!! :)  Way to go Dad!

I was just told that Hannah's final results from the chest X-ray have come back and things have actually improved.  They drew cultures and took a urine sample as well to be on the safe side, but they are going to continue her antibiotic until those come back.  Now you guys have all experienced what I mean when I say this is a roller coaster ride!!

Let's pray for a not so eventful night!