KAITLYN'S COURT, Post Op Day 2

It been a pretty eventful 24 hours for little Kaitlyn. Unfortunately we were not able to see her much yesterday. There is a very sick little boy in her area who needed a lot of stabilization and procedures done at his bed side. Eventhough we weren't allowed in a lot we knew she was in good hands.

Here's some of her most recent events:

• Her heart rate dipped into the high 60's overnight, they had to temporarily put her on a pacemaker (ugh). They continue to have her attached to the pacemaker, not turned on, in the event her heart rate dips again.
• Her lungs are wet, this is normal to a certain degree due to the excess fluid from the heart surgery, the fluid that doesn't make it out the drain weeps into her tissue and ends up in her lungs. Kaitlyn has more then they would like to see. There was talk of placing a chest tube in to drain the fluid off. They ordered an ultrasound and the fluid looked better, for now they just increased her diuretics, but will watch it close with more Xrays and ultrasounds.
• Her catheter was removed today, one more thing out!
• She started tube feeds this morning. She gets less then an ounce every few hours and they will increase it over time, she tolerated it well.
• For some reason her right leg is cooler then her arms and left leg, they are watching it, they found a pulse in her leg though, they don't seem too worried.
• They continue to sprint her (this is when they try to allow her to breath on her own with little to no help from the vent). She's doing OK. She isn't getting rid of as much carbon dioxide as she should. Again it is only 2 days after surgery so she is still within the normal range of where recovery should be.
• Kaitlyn got moved from the pediatric cardio ICU to the normal pediatric ICU this morning. They needed her bed for a baby just out of surgery. I wasn't thrilled, I loved where we were at. All the nurses specifically worked on heart babies all the time, and all the doctors were constantly around. Her new nurse is great! It was just stressful watching them move her. She was the chosen baby because she was doing better then most. I guess that's a good thing, but to us this still seems so critical.

Keep the prayers coming! Thanks again for all the support!

The ball's in Kaitlyn's Court, stay strong sweet angel!

Pediatric ICU and PCTU, 5th floor MOTTS

Grandpa Skocelas came to spend the morning with his grand baby today. He's been all over the state this week driving back and forth so he can be with the boys and Kaitlyn. He heads back to TN Saturday morning. He needs to be with my Mom now. Thank you to my Aunt Connie for flying to TN to be with my Mom so my Dad could be up here.

Our tough little fighter 2 days out of surgery

Our favorite nurse so far...Mumtaz (sp?) What an amazing lady with a beautiful heart. Kaitlyn got moved to a different part of the PICU today so we had to say goodbye! She was her nurse the last 3 days. The whole staff has been great we just really connected with Mumtaz.