Delta P?

Daddy's 1st Diaper Change...a little rocky, but went well none the less.

Kisses for Elli after the big Diaper Change.

Elli spent about 30 minutes this afternoon just looking around, she seemed pretty happy but...

...clearly she didn't like something. How can such a sour face look so darn cute?

Elli looking at her Mommy, thinking why wont this lady just pick me up already.

What the heck is Delta P? Brian and I have gotten very acquainted with Mr. Delta P. It is a HFOV setting that seems to determine what kind of gas Elli is going to have. (The Delta P is the amount of pressure behind each burst of air put into Elli's lungs) Currently Elli is receiving 600 tiny bursts of air each minute. No that is not a typing error, I said 600! Miss Elli has decided that she likes the Delta P at 40. Try and turn her down to 38 or 39 and her CO2 starts going up, and she starts really breathing over the vent, I guess she is just trying out her new diaphragm. The doctors really want to wean Elli every time she has a good blood gas but once they turn the Delta P down, she gets cranky and her CO2 is on the rise. The reason that they want to wean the vent settings, and won't just let her sit tight at a level she likes is that the HFOV tends to beat up the lungs. They want to least amount of pressure that Elli will tolerate with her numbers still staying in the acceptable range, so hence the constant trials to wean. As for right now, they are leaving the Delta P at 40 for a while, it has been there since around 6:00, so we hope that they let her adjust to it for a while. As far as everything else goes, Elli looks great on paper, her blood pressure has not had any issues since her blood volume has gotten back to where it needs to be and she is still peeing like crazy. Shoot, one of Elli's midline IV's just got pulled out, it was clotted off, so I don't know if they are going to try and start another one or what. And now I just heard that that her scalp IV that she is currently getting Vancomycin through is all red, so it's probably bad too. Darn it Elli, sounds like a few more pokes to come. The nurses have been giving Elli several PRN doses of Morphine and Versed to try to keep Elli from breathing over her vent, so I am wondering if they will end up turning up the drip rates pretty soon, but haven't heard any word of that yet.

Still back in the surgical suite all by ourselves. They had talked about moving Elli back into the ECMO room, but she is not stable enough yet, but hopefully she will begin to stabilize over the next several days. So as of now the plan is to keep Elli happy. With any luck she will be able to very, very slowly tolerate some lower Delta P numbers without her gases looking too bad.

One more thing, Brian and I put the hit counter on around this time last week and it is unbelievable, over 12,000 hits! That is amazing, we cannot believe that so many people are checking in on Elli. It is so refreshing to know that a baby that hardly anyone has got to meet can have such a great impact on others. She is truly a fighter and I hope that everyone continues to watch her progress, because we are all going to make it through this crazy journey. And everyone that has posted thoughtful comments, it has been a true help to Brian and I. These last few days have been so crazy, but it is nice to be able to sit down at the computer, pour out thoughts and know that there are so many people that truly care about all three of us. Thanks again, hopefully the next several posts will be filled with cute pictures and good news. Thanks again. Hope and Love....Brian, Cassi and Elli