Day 3: Edmonton

Sunday February 17, 2013

After a super short sleep we made our way back to the PICU to check on our baby girl.  Thankfully she remained stable since we left her at 4am.  We arrived as the cardiac, infectious disease and intensivist doctors were doing their rounds. This was good timing for we were able to answer a couple of background questions that they had.  At this point every nugget of information felt like it held the missing key to Ellie's health.

Her attending (the doctor in charge and responsible for Ellie) came by a little later and shared the plan of the day.  The goal for the day was to ween her off epinephrine and possibly take her off of the ventilator.

We spent a large portion of the day sitting and staring at her... Trying not to fixate on her vital sign monitors.

We were able to get away for lunch with our awesome cousins Jon and Sara McKay.  It allowed us to  escape our reality and enjoy some fellowship with family for a few minutes.  It also gave us the opportunity to hand off our dirty laundry!  I had to pack a lot of dirty clothes (I hadn't done laundry in a while) and Dan's stuff from Jamaica was pretty ripe!  Lucky for us Sara has a servant heart and didn't even think twice about it!


While we were away our day nurse Melissa started Ellie on the "Treasure Life" program.  It's a bead program for cardiac kids that keeps track of a child's procedures while they are in the hospital.  We've decided that we are going to participate in the program.  We are not going to include every single test, IV line or blood work... If we did that her journey cord would be a few feet long.  Instead we've stuck to the major procedures.  It at least gives us something to do.  Seeing the collections of our neighbours, it's the first time that my competitive nature is working in reverse.  I'd like her to have the shortest cord!

The afternoon was roughly the same as the morning... Waiting, looking at her stats and tearing up.

We moved into our new accommodations conveniently located across the street.  This forces us to get out of the building and take a break from the intensity of the situation.  Our suite consists of a full kitchen, eating area, living room and separate bedroom and bath.  It's like our own one bedroom condo.  This wouldn't have been possible without the amazing cardiac program in Winnipeg.   Children's Variety has been amazing by dealing with the logistics of everything.  (If some of you out there don't donate your money to charity, you should consider this wonderful program.)

After getting settled and consuming some dinner, we headed back to her unit.  Awaiting us were results from her earlier ultrasounds of her head and other major organs.  The doctors were looking for swelling in the organs and any possible brain bleeds.  Apparently brain bleeds are common after CPR so they performed one as a precaution.  Fortunately for us the results were good.  There was no swelling or bleeding found.  Also, the epinephrine weening process was going well, by morning she should be completely off of it.  They were also going to lower her rates on the respirator and possibly remove it tomorrow.  Could it be possible that we would be able to hear her cry, laugh and babble at us?

After a long day we headed back to the hotel and passed out.  I guess our sleep deficit was still incredibly large!