Good evening everyone! Abbey just called with the latest Ella update. I hope I repeat everything correctly! There is A LOT to report tonight! So, here it goes!
After removing the ventilator, it still wasn't set in stone that Ella would not have to get some kind of oxygen support before the end of the day. However, Ella continued to amaze everyone and, as of a few hours ago, still had not needed any oxygen support!
Ella was still receiving two medications by IV earlier today. One of those was her blood pressure medication and the other is a medication that is helping her heart. (I can't remember the specifics and don't want to butcher that one!) Abbey said that they had stopped her blood pressure medication earlier and that her blood pressure was beginning to rise again. They were going to be starting her back on the medication that she was on prior to surgery, tonight. This is an oral medication. The doctor's do not seem to be concerned about the blood pressure and have indicated that this may just be something that Ella's body will have to, hopefully, outgrow. So, as of now, the hope/plan is that she will be IV free tomorrow.
Probably the biggest news of the night is the pacemaker. Abbey said that Ella got really "ticked" off this evening. Abbey and the nurse were watching Ella's pacemaker while she was having her little "fit". They both noticed (I guess the device flashes light on one side when it is doing the work and flashes light on the other side when it is the patients heart doing the work.) that Ella's heart was doing all of the work when she was upset. This is HUGE as it is a very strong indication that Ella's heart is healing and her heart rate is starting to increase. When the cardiologist did rounds, the nurse reported this and the cardiologist turned the pacemaker off for a few minutes to see what Ella's heart was doing on its own. Ella's heart was still beating a little slower than they would like but, it is improving. Therefore, the cardiologist made the decision to turn the pacemaker down to 80 bmp instead of 114 bmp. The hope is that POSSIBLY tomorrow they can revisit and MAYBE turn off the pacemaker as well!
Abbey has indicated that once Ella can "kick" the pacemaker, she will be moved to a patient room in the PICU. From there, she will just need to get her eating figured out.
Finally, the biggest accomplishment of the afternoon/evening was that Abbey got to hold Ella for 3 hours. She did say that she was scared to death to move, with all of the wires, etc. but, she did get to hold her! I guess she even got a few smiles out of her!!!
Tonights Prayer Request
Please pray that Ella is able to be IV free tomorrow and that she is able to maintain a desirable heart rate so that the pacemaker can be turned off. Please pray that she remembers all that she learned last week about eating from a bottle. Pray that she heals quickly and is able to come home soon.
What a HUGE difference just one day makes. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and continue to have a great work week. Thank you for checking in on Ella. I hope we have more good news to spread tomorrow.
-Heather
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