Coming home (again)

Lacey & I are coming home.  The doctors were pleased with her clinical evaluation, and her x-ray showed enough improvement to send us home.  We should be leaving UCLA within the hour...

 

Lacey is getting really fed up with taking her meds, so please pray for her cooperation and for patience and persistence for me & Gina.

 

We're still not out of the woods with her recovery from surgery, or with her pleural effusion, so let's continue to pray!

 

Nevertheless, praise God!

Another day at UCLA

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Lacey and I are still here at UCLA. They had hoped to discharge her yesterday (Thanksgiving day) but decided to keep her because even though she did very well on the I.V. meds they would be sending her home on oral meds and the doctor didn't want to see her having to come back. They changed her meds to oral yesterday and added an additional diuretic and unfortunately the effusion has worsened; not worse than the original effusion but worse than yesterday. I'm very thankful for Dr. Levy's wisdom in keeping Lacey here. Now the plan is to keep her on oral meds until the problem is moving in the right direction. Once they see that trend they will let her  go home.

 

Scott and the kids are getting ready to come down for a visit and Scott and I plan to trade off. Thanks to everyone for continuing to pray. God bless you. :)

Pleural Effusion

Wow, yesterday was quite a day. It took us over four hours to crawl through traffic and get to UCLA. Lacey was admitted through the E.R. where we waited for five hours for a bed to become available. We finally made it up to our room at around 1:30 am. Lacey and I were both exhausted and miserable...yep we had our own private pity party. Today is a new day and we are both in better spirits. Lacey has been sleeping peacefully for the past three hours and I'm guarding her like a mother bear, I'm not letting anyone touch her so that she can catch upon the five + hours of sleep that she missed out on last night.

 

So the good news is that Lacey's pleural effusion is mild and it doesn't warrant having a chest tube to drain it. The doctors think that maybe her Lasix was decreased too quickly and when it was later increased it dried her out a little and just caused a snow ball effect that gave her some trouble. They hydrated her with IV fluids last night and today she is getting Lasix by IV. Her progress will be monitored today and through the night. God willing they will send us home tomorrow morning. Oh, I really hope so!

 

Well, the past few weeks have been a roller coaster of ups and downs and yesterday I have to confess I was wallowing in the downs but today I'm overwhelmed with gratefulness for all that has gone right and that this 13 month journey is at it's end. We might have a few more blips to deal with but Lacey's surgery was a success and all of this will be behind us soon. Yippee!

 

I will try to post another update tonight or in the morning but I might not have time so I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving day celebration.

Gina and the family

Back to UCLA

Gina and Lacey are headed back to UCLA as I type this. During a follow-up appt with the cardiologist this morning, she was diagnosed with pleural effusion, or liquid surrounding her left lung. That would certainly explain her difficulty breathing.

I think the plan is to do a minor surgical procedure to drain the fluid, and then monitor her response to Lasix. It could be a short visit (1-2 days), depending on how things go.

Specific prayer requests:

• Safe travel to UCLA. Gina will get there in the dark and in the rain. It's bad enough on the LA freeway and Westwood without bad weather.
• An available bed. Initial phone calls to UCLA indicated that there were no beds available. Gina will be able to room-in with Lacey, whether she's on the pediatric floor or in the ICU.
• Grace, peace, and joy for each of us. It's hard to be separated so abruptly.
• Discernment of the Lord's will and plan in this trial.
• To be home for Thanksgiving dinner, if He permits...

Thank you for your prayers, once again.

This is a picture of Lacey from this afternoon. You can see the toll that the pleural effusion is taking on her -- NOT! She is such a cheerful baby, even when she has to work harder just to breathe. What a trooper.

Coming home

Gina and Lacey are on their way home.  Lacey responded beautifully to the increased Lasix doses and shed the excess fluid in her lungs.  She is now breathing easier and doing better.  Praise God for His faithfulness, and thank you again for your prayers!

A few more details

Cottage is primarily watching Lacey for signs of heart failure.  Gina was not aware of a treatment plan.  While it could be discouraging that they are watching for signs of heart failure, I take it as a good sign that they are merely watching, because it means they haven't found any signs of heart failure.  Her pulse was a bit high earlier tonight (150's) and her O₂ saturation was a bit low (90%), but these by themselves do not indicate heart failure.  Her retractions were back to a level that is normal for her.

 

God is good, and He is faithful.

At Cottage SB tonight

Lacey (and Gina) will be at SB Cottage Hospital tonight for observation and a few diagnostic tests.