Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Lots of progress.

Well a lot has happened in just one short day. First her belly is going down slowly but surely. It is still large but it is looking better.

The skin doctor was here this morning and she removed the mesh that was covering her skin graph. It looks like it is healing. I am to put mineral on it many times a day to soften and loosen the skin so it stays moist. Her head is healing and her hair is growing much faster thatn I expected

She has been extubated for about 27 hours now. Her blood gases were running in low 50's and still are but all her other numbers are looking great and expected with what she has been through. She stays between 93-98 percent. Her O2 was turned down this morning but then put back at 3 liters this afternoon.

Yesterday she was really labored in her breathing. Her nose would flair and her pectus (large indent/cave in) in her chest would sink way down. Also er head would bob up and down while breathing. BUT overnight she seemed to turn things around. It could have been that she stayed up all night playing with her Daddy. We think she might have her days and nights messed up! I know Daddy doesn't mind. They read books, look at the musical cards and watch Barney. Here is one of Daddy's pictures of their adventure in the middle of the night.



Another HUGE accomplishment was that she got her chest tube removed this morning!!! YEAH! That is a great sigh of relief. It hurt her really bad but she coped well.

Now as for coughing, she is not great at this at all. We have been suctioning her out since none seems to come up on it's own. I know her throat hurts but she must get it up. I decided this morning to try ice chips. They will relieve pain in her throat and maybe let her cough without too much pain! It worked. The docs thought that blowing bubbles would do the trick but they don't understand she is still too little to do that. She is learning.

So this morning all we did was play. She loves to watch bubbles so I blew and blew. Then it was her turn. She is so cute!







Thanks for all the prayers. I'm praying that Miss Ava has turned this around. PLEASE Ava no more drama!

~Terri

6 comments:

Aimee said...

I'm so happy to hear that Miss Ava has had a good day! We continue to send prayers your way...

proudmom said...

I can't wait to see pictures of Miss Ava smiling and laughing again. She is such a brave young lady.
I am still lifting her up in prayer. May god continue to help heal her hurts.

God Bless the CDH babies.

Kathyb1960 said...

PRAISE THE LORD! She looks so GREAT! Bless her heart, I know she's been through the ringer, but she's looking really good!

OK, this is probably a silly request but do ya think she'd give us a smile and wave? I think that would be a neat picture! I'd love to give her a big hug! She's just a sweet little angel!

Take care of yourself, and tell her that we are praying for her to get well soon!

Kathy in West Texas

Taryn said...

It looks like she is doing better! It's hard to look at her with no hair...*hugs* hang in there! You are super strong :)

A simple being said...

i have been checking on ava daily, sorry i haven't commented, but know that each day she remains in my prayers terri and i hope that you guys are pulling through this strong, ava looks great in these pictures what a wonderful sight to see the tubes gone, i hope she continues to amaze everyone with her fight, i thinking im seeing a rainbow in the near future.wow i went back and read your post over the last two weeks and wow what a two weeks she has had... keep fighting ava stay strong helmick family...packages in the mail.

Liz and Shane said...

We are glad to hear Ava is doing well. We are praying she starts coughing to let the bad stuff out. We are praying for you Ava.