Friday, June 8, 2012

ECMO

So, Bonnie's CO2 levels continued to climb last night, and by this morning they were dangerously high (over 100..."normal" is in the 40's, but for her they would accept in the 60's) despite switching to a third type of ventilator (the jet) and going up on her settings.  Her blood pressure is also trending downward, despite being on moderate doses of two different medications to help with this (dopamine and dobutamine).  Meanwhile, they did an echocardiogram overnight which showed that her pulmonary hypertension is now on the severe side.  This has all been explained to me in about six different ways, and I'm pretty sure there's some cyclical connection between all these variables (like one thing is leading to another, which is in turn making the first thing worse), but I'm not positive.

Anyway, after a couple terrible blood gases, the decision was made to put our sweet girl on ECMO.  At this moment, she is in the NICU having the surgery to get it going.  They're putting two enormous tubes in the major blood vessels in her neck (carotid artery and jugular vein), which will take blood out of her body, run it through a circuit to oxygenate it and remove carbon dioxide (I'm sure there's a word for that), then return it to her body.  Many scary risks involved.  Off the top of my head we've got risk of bleeding, death, and "not being able to come off ECMO" (i.e. death).  This is terrifying.  And you know it's not good when the neonatologist is patting you on the back with a look of pity.

Jonathan and I are just waiting on the call that we can go up and see her.  Will update more when we can.  Please pray for a successful surgery and that ECMO, as scary as it is, will be just the break her body needs to recover so she can continue to be the feisty little fighter we know she is.

(On the positive side, I'm recovering really well from my C-section.  So far no need for pain meds except for Motrin every 6 hours...which is nice, because it makes it a lot easier to go to the NICU and visit Bonnie.  Also, Henry came by to visit this morning.  He saw my IV sites, which are still hep-locked and said, "Momma boo-boo."  And then, because most of his boo-boos are the result of falling in the mulch on the playground, he revised his original statement to, "Momma *mulch* boo-boo."  Can't even tell you how much I love that little guy.)

4 comments:

  1. I just wanted to let you know that you and baby Bonnie are still in my prayers. And as long as we have faith and believe that God is able to do all things through Christ that everything will be ok no matter what. Miss waving at you (lol) and stay strong!!
    Sincerely, Takina

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  2. Lifting your little one up in prayer. I'm glad to hear you are recovering easily. Keeping the faith that everything will go okay.

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  3. Praying praying praying for you. ECMO sucks but it can be just what these little ones need. Sending lots of spirit sprinkles to Bonnie and hugs to you! You got this!

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  4. As scary as ECMO is, Bonnie is strong and I'm thankful that you are there where it was available so quickly. We will continue to pray for her improvement! Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us, I can appreciate how difficult it might be sometimes. We love you!

    -Yolanda & April(she says, aww she's such a cute baby)

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