PCICU Day 80, 81, 82 & 83

Pink Bow and Blanket courtesy of Jarred, Kayleigh and Lucas Baker (Blanket made by Kayleigh's friend Vicki Hatcher

)

Well it has been a busy few days around here in Edmonton. My parents, sister and her family, as well as Nick all drove up on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with us. So I have been very busy between entertaining company and spending time with Evanna at the hospital over the past few days.

On Wednesday morning we decided to involve OT into Evanna's care, as I was noticing that her hips were getting wider and wider as result of being confined to a hospital bed for such a long time. At the moment we're just making sure to keep pillows and rolls on either side of her legs in hopes that will be enough without resorting to leg braces. I know it's just another thing to add to our never ending list of issues with Evanna - but this one is very minor in the grand scheme of things, and definitely something I can handle.

The whole family arrived around 4pm Wednesday evening, so we just hung out at the Ronald McDonald until supper was served and then headed to the hospital so we could visit Evanna.

The unit was so gracious and let everyone come in at the same time so we could see Evanna, open gifts and take some pictures. After a couple of hours we headed back to the Ronald McDonald House to eat some goodies and play a few games. It was a long day for myself, but it was nice to do some things that I would normally do on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, Nick and I headed over to the hospital to see Evanna by ourselves and have some quiet family time. Evanna spiked another fever, so they started her on some antibiotics again, and we put lots of cool clothes on her head to help control her temperature. Around 11am, Santa came around and literally had a sleigh full of presents for the kids on the unit and I was able to get a picture of him standing over Evanna's bed, which just made my whole day! Around lunch we headed back to the Ronald McDonald, where my mom was cooking up delicious pancakes and see my sister and niece one last time. After brunch, my mom cut Nick's hair and coloured and cut my hair as we were both in major need of hair cuts before heading back to the hospital. 

After visiting for a little bit, we left for supper (which ended up being one of the best meals I have ever had the RMH), and then while Nick went back to the hospital afterwards, my parents and I went to go look at a puppy that my mom was thinking of getting. So without really meaning too, they bought a puppy on Christmas Day and brought her home in hopes of giving their other dog a new companion after their other dog passed away earlier this year.

My parents left Edmonton on Boxing Day for home and Nick and I spent the day with Evanna. Though it was nice to have family in town for the holidays, it was also nice going back to just our little family again. Evanna still battled a high temperature all day long, so Nick was putting new cool clothes on her every half hour (he's such a good daddy!) and kept her as comfortable as possible.

This morning Evanna still had a little bit of a temperature, but it seems she has finally turned a corner this afternoon, and it's down to a reasonable level. Her PEEP is down to a 9, and she has been holding steady with the slow decrease on the ventilator. She was suppose to go down to a PEEP level of 8 today, but after all she's been through this past week, I guess we decided to leave it at 9 for one more day. Her xrays continue to come back with fair and steady results which is a good thing, and showing that she's handling this very slow decrease just fine.

I think the plan is to extubate Evanna to BiPAP sometime this week and PRAY (and pray some more) that she stays extubated (she's never lasted more than 4 days). I'm hopeful that she'll succeed, but so cautious and nervous of what happens next if she fails.

I want to thank everyone for all of the Christmas cards that we got over the holiday season. I'm going to go buy some pins and hang them all up tomorrow and take a picture, because I feel so incredibly blessed to read them all. We even got a Christmas card that came to Evanna in the PCICU on Christmas Eve all the way from Germany from a sweet Instagram follower!!

xo The Irvine Family