Saturday, May 8, 2010

Sat. Princess Lung Report

Dr. Kupferschmid (Chrissie's cardiac surgeon) stopped by around Noon to check on Chrissie.  (He brought his son with him who had just finished a tee ball game.)  There is definitely internal bleeding, but determining the source is the big question.  Dr. K thinks it could be a couple of things.  The first way to search for the cause will be to do another bronchial scope.  (Chrissie had this done sometime near the very beginning of her hospital stay.  This is where they insert a camera down Chrissie's throat to try to view what all is going on down the trachea and down into the lungs.)  It's a somewhat risky procedure that I'll need to sign releases for, but it will help determine the possible source of bleeding.  (The release talks about the possibility of rupturing a lung, so be praying that the bronch procedure will go beautifully without any complications.)  Dr. K thinks the bleeding may be abrasion/erosion from the breathing tube down in Chrissie's chest where it has been sitting for 20 days now.  The more aggressive suctioning could have irritated it to the point where now it just keeps being irritated and continues to bleed.  If that is the case, it will take time to heal and there are a few things they can do to aid in healing, such as repositioning the breathing tube and applying something to the site that is eroded.  Chrissie will be put under anesthesia for the bronch scope and won't have anything by mouth (feeding tube) after 10PM, but they will keep her on the IV feeds that go into her blood.  (The feeding tube food poses a risk of vomiting.)  The procedure should occur sometime Sunday morning around 9AMish.

If they don't find the source of bleeding with the scope, then it may be due to issues with the multi-collateral arteries that they know have extreme stenosis (narrowing) and kinking.  The pressures coming out of her beautifully working heart may be too high for these narrow arteries, and there may have been a hemorrhage in there where the arteries run into the lungs that could be the source of the bleeding.  (Atleast this is what I understand...not sure if I understood all of this correctly.)  Regardless, if the bleeding isn't from abrasion/erosion at the site of the breathing tube, Dr. Porisch will do a heart catheterization on Chrissie Monday morning to see if she can determine the source of bleeding and fix it.  PRAISE THE LORD that Dr. Porisch will be back from Iraq late Sunday night and will be back to the hospital Monday morning.  Please pray for Dr. Porisch and her team who have been in Iraq for 12 days saving children's lives by doing heart catheterizations while also screening children for possible future life-saving open-heart surgeries.  They've got to be beyond exhausted as they've seen hundreds of children and performed numerous heart caths, plus the time difference, travel and jet lag...I can't imagine!  I am just so very grateful that Dr. Porisch is coming HOME!  Thank you, God!!!  It seemed like I'd never survive those 12 days without Dr. Porisch, but God has faithfully seen me through this time.  I'm frankly amazed that we're still here.  I didn't think Chrissie would hang in here as long as she has!!!  Chrissie and God never cease to amaze me.  Anyway, just THRILLED that Dr. Porisch is coming back, and I thank you in advance for praying for her and her mission team.  (I got an email at 7:54AM today from Dr. Porisch that included a photo of her with her bare feet standing in the Jordan River at the site of Jesus' baptism.  The photo wouldn't let me save it to show it to you (sent via her iPhone), but here are the words that Dr. Porisch wrote in her email to me:  "We are at the site of Jesus baptism in the Jordan. Offering up prayers for Chrissie's bleeding from her lungs to stop miraculously." From Dr. Porisch, Received via email 5/8/10, 7:54AM.  Praise the Lord for this precious woman of God.  I adore her.

So far, Chrissie hasn't had any more bleeding episodes.  They have put her on an IV drip of the Vec paralytic medicine.  They believe that if they can keep her from coughing, by paralyzing her, then the blood will just be reabsorbed in the lung and chest cavity and not come back up her breathing tube, which is life-threatening.  The doctor has ordered all kinds of life-saving drugs and devices to have on hand, which include a drug called Nova 7 (or something like that...a drug they use in the OR to stop bleeding), the oscillator and nitric oxide, a mouth to mouth resuscitator, FFP's (fresh frozen platelets), blood, and a myriad of other things, just incase she pulls the same stunt she did this morning at 4AM with the bleeding and oxygen sats in the 40's and blood pressure rapidly dropping to the point of almost flatlining.  That is the most horrible feeling to watch, so I pray that we never see that happen again.  (Three times is plenty, thank you very much!)

Another thing I want to mention is that if you send me a comment and would like for me to reply directly to you, I need for you to leave me your email address.  I don't have any way of getting back with you if there's no email address and your profile doesn't list your email address. 

A reader (Ashley) asked if it would be OK to start a Facebook page "Pray for Chrissie" where someone would post my prayer requests and blog updates.  If any of you would like to set that up, please do!  I don't know if one person would need to be responsible for posting my blog updates there or if anyone can, but that will be for whoever sets it up to figure out.  I would greatly appreciate it!  (K-LOVE emailed last night to ask if we have a page specifically for Chrissie, so if any of you set one up, be sure to link it to my Facebook profile so I can alert everyone that the Fb page is set up.)

One more thing I want to address:  the night nurse did not cause Chrissie's bleeding episode.  I don't want anyone to think that she was the cause by any means.  I was just frustrated to walk in on my daughter bleeding everywhere with everyone in a panic.  I think the nurse really wanted to change Chrissie's position every 2 hours, and I had told her that we'd been doing every 4 hours, so while I was away, the nurse decided to go ahead and reposition Chrissie, which was a happy medium between the 2 and 4 hour discrepancy.  After Chrissie bled and scared the nurse so badly (twice!), she decided to let her stay in the same position for 4 hours at a time.  I tell ya, Chrissie is the princess and the pea, and sometimes nurses who haven't worked with her just don't realize how sensitive she is, no matter how much I tell them.  So, Chrissie decides to show them herself, which is learning the hard way, which I hate.  I want the easy way as much as possible!!! :-)  The nurses have superior training in terms of nursing care, but not in terms of the ins and outs of my princess! :-)  That's why I'm here constantly advocating for her.  The nurse has now learned this about Chrissie (as every nurse who has ever cared for her has learned), so tonight's shift with the same nurse should go well.  (The nurse never intended to do anything to upset or hurt Chrissie in any way.  She was very kind and very well meaning.)  I will say it's hard to go from Steven to any other nurse because Steven is very attached to Chrissie and treats her like his own child.  He even cried yesterday when he got emotional about our princess and her story.  You just can't beat that level of care.  (Kind of like Dr. Porisch and the way she loves our Chrissie.  There's just no replacing her, no matter how hard I try to accept Dr. Porisch's replacements!)  Looking forward to Monday when Dr. Porisch AND Steven will be back! :-)

Thank you for praying.  Many of you have commented that you wish there was something more you could do, and please know that prayer is POWERFUL and is doing more for us than anything else that could possibly be done.  If someone had me choose between $1million and 1 million prayers from the righteous, I'd choose the prayers ANY DAY!!!  Please stay on your knees for our princess.  Prayer is powerful, powerful stuff and it gives us all a peace that passes all understanding.  Grateful for the faithful prayer warriors God has enlisted to this army.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

a FB page is a great idea, that way so many more people could get on board with prayer for her specific needs
~Still praying, God Bless

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