What a boring day

Here is Elli posing with SugarBear, he is keeping her from getting that thumb up to her mouth. She has been trying to get it there all day. They had to give her extra doses of Morphine and Versed today because she has been trying to be so active and moving her arms and legs around. Earlier today she was breathing over the vent setting of 20, which tends to allow air into her stomach and intestines so they don't really want that. So since about 3:00 when her roommate came, she has been pretty zonked out.

They have been having the lights on more this afternoon, and Elli really squints when they are on so this is the little cover we use to keep the bright lights out of her eyes (note it is pink and brown - the same color as her new room!)

Overall Elli had a really stable day. Not much changes, her blood pressure continues to be really good for her 50's/40's with a mean of around 50, without any additional boluses or med changes other than the slight increase in dopamine this morning. She continues to have really good urine output so the daily Lasix is really doing it's job. As for her right arm, it looks immensely better even this afternoon. They did a Doppler of her brachial and radial pulses to make sure that there were no clots and everything looked great. They think that the ECMO cannula's are causing a slight obstruction in her neck, but overall she has good pulses and good tissue profusion. I did have a little bit of a freak out moment this afternoon. Brian's sister and brother-in-law came to visit us from Iowa and Brian and his brother-in-law Charles were visiting with Elli as I was pumping. When I got done pumping I stopped in quick to see Elli and I sort of freaked out, well actually I did. I spazzed out and asked the nurse when the last time she was over to look at Elli. I noticed right away that both her arms and legs were all red and splotchy. Of course our nurse did notice it after Brian asked the nurse if her skin was reddened because they had just turned her from the side she had been laying on for most of the day. At first Brooklen our nurse thought that it was from lying on that side, but when it was on both arms, legs and her cheeks, she chalked it up to the antibiotic Gentamycin that she had just given her a few minutes before. The rash ended up fading pretty fast and is now completely gone.

Well Brian and I are going to head to the Ronald McDonald house for the night, planning on trying to get a good nights sleep. I am sure that when I get up to pump I will have to call to check on Elli just for a little piece of mind. It is so nice that the night nurses don't get annoyed with me calling, or at least they haven't said anything. We will let you know any new news tomorrow! Pray for more boring days!