Day 19

Elli had her ups and downs again today. The doctors are still very concerned that Elli is not showing any progress even with all the medication changes they have tried. Her pulmonary hypertension is still incredibly high, and they have not been able to wean the vent settings at all, even when this morning her gases looked great and her saturations were in the 90's. It seems like that any little adjustment the doctors try to make, Elli does not respond well to it. Still trying to sort out if there are any other medications to put her on that will help with the pulmonary hypertension, but since she is not eating it is limiting. Some meds that might help can only be given via the gut and since she has not eaten, that wouldn't really work. So now we are left to wait, not knowing if Elli will start responding to any of the interventions that the doctors throw at her. Tomorrow the Neonatology team is going to have a conference about Elli to see if anyone has any new ideas to help with the pulmonary hypertension. As of now, the HFOV seems to be doing more damage to Elli's lungs than good. They need to wean her off of it, but they can't without causing an increase in her hypertension. The doctors are trying some heavier sedation medications and have even toyed with the idea of temporarily paralysing her. Sorry this post is so late, Brian and I are at a loss for words.