The day has begun

In hospital life it starts early. No matter if your night was rough, if sleep didn't come till 3 or 4 am, it still begins at 5:30. Labs have to be drawn, delivered, run, and posted before rounds begin. Its the way of the world around here.

We can't get blood return from Ashley's new central line. So disappointing. It gave great blood return yesterday. The line was used all day long for a continuous flow of TPN, replacement fluid, steroid, and morphine. It flushes easily but yet gives no return this morning. Guess what? Labs can wait. There will be NO sticks or pokes. She has gone through ____ for this line and so we are waiting on TPA to arrive from the pharmacy. TPA is a clot buster. You push it in the line, allow it to sit for 30-45 minutes and then draw it out. Hopefully it will do its job and blood will flow from the line as well. If it doesn't work then we go for another 30-45 minutes and try to draw again. At that point if it doesn't work then we will discuss a trip to the OR in rounds this morning. Not fun.

So her thymo was scheduled to begin at 7 this morning. We are going to attempt to infuse it over 6 hours. If her vitals begin to change or she struggles to keep her blood pressures up then we will slow it back down. Pre-meds were to be given at 6:30, but all of this has now been pushed back. The hope was to move off the unit today and to the floor if she tolerates the infusion well. If we go to the OR to work on this line then I think our move will be put off. Another night in the PICU may very well be in our future.

We have had the sweetest nurses this admission. PICU nurses who didn't know us from our previous stays(except for one who loves us like were family). They have gone out of their way to make our new life as easy as possible. Just a blessing to have such kind people taking care of your baby. Got to see a couple of my closest nursing friends the last couple of days and that always helps to have them around. Still looking forward to my good friends who have moved on to other hospitals and their visits. I've missed these girls. Think and pray for them, their families, their new babies often. It will feel good to hug their necks and just see their faces. I depend on their friendships while I'm here. Its amazing that God brought each of these young ladies into our lives in the rooms of this hospital. They have loved my Ashley through the years and nothing brings peace to my heart more than to know the ones taking care of my daughter truly care. I just wish selfishly that none of them had left and that they were all still here:( Can't wait to see my friends.

Last night was the first night the tears didn't fall. I'm thankful for that. Maybe its starting to sink in.