Well, Chrissie threw a new one at us all this morning. At around 6AM, Chrissie's oxygen sats were dropping. They had been consistently lowering at a slow pace for a couple of hours prior. When her O2 sats got into the 70's, there became concern and the RT came in. (They had been trying not to suction her to lessen risk of bleeding.) It was determined that some of the old blood from Chrissie's lungs had formed a clot in the breathing tube, which wasn't allowing any of the air/oxygen from the oscillator to get into Chrissie's lungs. There was no movement in Chrissie's chest/lungs at all. They had to remove her from the oscillator and bag her while using a separate catheter to try to suck the clot out of the breathing tube. They were able to get lots of clots and "gook" out of the tube, but in the process, Chrissie's heart rate shot up to 200 (it had been around 80), and she lost blood pressure. (This apparently means that because her blood pressure went so low/slow/nonexistent, the heart tried to compensate and work harder to get blood out to the vessels.) We had a serious situation on our hands, but, once again, the amazing staff at Methodist Children's ICU pulled through and saved Chrissie, yet again. Praise the Lord!!!
They believe that Chrissie is now septic, meaning she has an acute infection in the blood more than likely. (We had been praying against infection, but the likelihood was high since her chest was open for so long and she's had so many tubes hanging out of her body, plus the fact that she's been in the hospital for 29 days now.) This brings a whole new set of challenges. Chrissie is now back on several medications to regulate blood pressure, heart rate, constriction of blood vessels, antibiotics, anti-fungal meds, heart meds, etc. (Many of these meds were the same ones she was on during her earlier days in the PICU.) Chrissie's blood gasses came back showing acidosis and a few other bad things, plus her kidneys weren't putting out any urine, which were all indicators of being septic.
Here's a little blurb about sepsis from Wikipedia: "Severe sepsis occurs when sepsis leads to organ dysfunction, low blood pressure (hypotension), or insufficient blood flow (hypoperfusion) to one or more organs (causing, for example, lactic acidosis, decreased urine production, or altered mental status). Sepsis can lead to septic shock, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (formerly known as multiple organ failure), and death. Organ dysfunction results from sepsis-induced hypotension (< 90 mmHg or a reduction of ≥ 40 mmHg from baseline) and diffuse intravascular coagulation, among other things."
So, Chrissie is now battling something new and life-threatening. Dr. Porisch is reviewing all of the data to determine if the heart cath is even a possibility at this point, but it's most likely not given the sepsis. She is conferencing with a few brains, and we'll know sometime soon what their decision is. Please pray for the infection to clear and for Chrissie to stabilize again. She's taken many steps backward the past few days, and there's lots to fight right now, so your prayers are most appreciated. Lots of obstacles from the pulmonary artery clot with no blood flow from heart to right lung, to the issue of bleeding in Chrissie's lungs, and now the sepsis and infection and blood pressure issues and all of the new meds that were added.
Keep praying to our Mighty to Save God!!!
Monday, May 17, 2010
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20 comments:
Still praying.
Ok....I am praying...praying for clean blood, stable organs (ALL of them) and for God's Peace and Wisdom.
Hang in there!
I will continue to fast, cath or no cath today, and will just alter my prayers a little to also focus on the sepsis. Rowan has been septic over a dozen times and gone into full blown septic shock 5 of those times, so I know fully how serious it can be. I also know though, she is in the best place she can be and the PICU team will be watching every factor closely, and like Rowan, she can come through this setback as well. Our God is Mighty to Save, this Monday and every day! Love and prayers-Carrie
We continue to pray for Chrissie, and your entire family, the doctors and staff.
The Lord is good and His mercies endureth forever.
Many hugs.
Praying much for your warrior princess today and asking everyone I know to also. My children will be saying some extra special prayers for her today also. The Logue family in DE
fasting and praying for Chrissie. And beseeching God to give you and the medical team wisdom.
Praying...constantly.
What about dialysis to help filter some of the things out of her blood, given that her kidneys are struggling a bit? I know that lactic acid levels can rise due to decreased levels of oxygen and the body having a tough time removing CO2 from the blood stream...makes total sense with Chrissie. But, if just curious if dialysis would help, and might give her kidneys a bit of a rest until they can get the sepsis cleared up? Obviously, I'm not a doctor, but just thought I'd toss that information out there... Y'all are in my prayers!
Praying Lorraine, for Chrissie, for you, for the doctors. We serve a mighty God.
Praying constantly for Chrissie and all of you...
love,
the Linams
Praying for you all.
Sarah
Praying & Trusting right now with you. HEALING!
I woke up several times last night and talked to God about Chrissie each time. Sometimes too much time passes between my prayers but God has been hearing from me a lot lately.
I can't get Chrissie out of my mind today and my heart is so heavy with worry. I don't know how you do it and even though I know I *could* do it if I had to, I'm certain that I couldn't do it with as much grace and composure as you've shown.
I've not looked at my children the same since I started reading Chrissie's story. You've helped me to remember how fragile they are.
Love and hope and prayers from a total stranger in California,
Donna
Our Blog: Double Happiness!
You don't know me, but I've been following Chrissie's story for a while. My son, Micah (age 2), entered the ER in April, went into septic shock and almost died. The docs didn't think he would make it through the night. They were talking ECMO, he had to be shocked (atrial fib), received numerous transfusions, was treated with IVIG (antibodies from about 1,000 people) and he was up 40% in weight (fluid) - final diagnosis was Toxic Shock. We were blessed that God chose to heal our little warrior. I'm continuing to pray for your princess.
Praying and believing God with you for a clearing of Chrissie's lungs and a healing from sepsis. God is able.
Mighty to Save Monday is not over yet!
Love and hugs and prayers,
Debi
God places the heaviest burden on those who can carry its weight. Fight Chrissie Fight !!
Continuing to pray for Crissie!!!! So sorry to hear she has sepsis... will focus prayers on that!! Keep fighting Princess Chrissie!!!
Continuing to pray...humbly asking God for yet another MIRACLE for Princess Chrissie! Praying for all of you... Shedding tears today for Chrissie but I have to trust in God's perfect timing and His will. I DO believe He WILL heal her to His Glory!
I have been praying for Chrissie, her doctors, and your family throughout the day today. I keep checking to see if there are any updates. Your little warrior princess has been so much on my mind this past month. I've never met you and probably never will (outside of heaven) but wanted you to know that we are praying faithfully for your girl.
--Susan
My daughter Angeline (adopted from Haiti in 2006) was septic when we got her in Haiti and she arrived in the USA. She has Spina Bifida and was only four months old, leaking spinal fluid, bacterial meningitis, hydrocephalus- septic!
Fast forward several years and she is doing SO well. HE is Mighty to Save- YES! We are praying praying praying for Chrissie and your whole family!!!!!
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