Well, we're as ready as we can be for Christmas around here. Nick and I just bought a few things off of our "want" list back when we were in Calgary for each other, and we kept things to a minimum in regards to Evanna. I bought her another doll to go along with her bunny girl, and a Christmas headwrap (I have much bigger plans for her birthday gift). I don't know what Nick got Evanna, as he's keeping it a surprise from everyone, but knowing Nick, it's going be incredibly thoughtful and amazing (one of Nick's talents is thinking up awesome and personal gift ideas!).
The last few days have continued to be quiet around here. Daily adjustments are incredibly minimal, which means another boring update. They turned down her sedation as she was sleeping too much and was practically unconscious all of Sunday. They also have begun to decrease her PEEP level little by little. This is the sole reason of why we're having a trouble extubating Evanna, as she's been requiring a higher PEEP to keep her trachea open. She started out at 14 when she had pneumonia, and is currently sitting at a PEEP of 10. The goal is to get her down to a PEEP of 7/8 before we feel she can handle another extubation and possibly be successful.
If we can't lower her PEEP to a low enough level, ENT and Cardiology feel we should proceed with one more surgery before we land on a tracheotomy being the final answer. Edmonton is just more resistant to traching Evanna because trachs get in the way of future heart surgeries, and they would really love to avoid one if we can. Dr. El-Hakim came by this afternoon to say that he reviewed Evanna's last bronchoscopy that was done by the other ENT last week, and he says he was able to see a marked improvement! Oh those were sweet words to my ears! Though we are not out of the woods, and again - a tracheotomy is STILL on the table, it makes me so happy to hear that things have improved and going in the right direction.
We also got moved to the "overflow" area in the PCICU again (and into the exact same spot we were last time, hopefully she doesn't repeat history and code on us again). There is a huge bed shortage in the PCICU, and because Evanna is technically the most stable, she got moved as they don't need to keep such a close eye on her. I'm going to miss our bed neighbours, the windows and the actual unit itself, but it's a huge positive knowing how confident the intentivists are with Evanna and how stable she is.
Anyways, please continue to pray for her little heart, and her little airway, and thanks so much for continuing to follow along.
I'll update again after Christmas!
xo The Irvine Family
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