Today we spoke to a cardiologist that was seeing Miss Kali. She had another echocardiogram done this week and it showed that her left ventricle has grown and is strong. Her left ventricle was much smaller than it should be and is still on the smaller side but has shown some improvement. Also one of the "holes" in her heart is smaller. She will still require surgery for other defects in her heart but this is still great news.
So about the surgery. I know this is something everyone has questions about. Basically what we were told today is that they want her a certain amount of weight before they will plan it. If she shows any signs of needing it done sooner they will do it but she will do better if she is bigger. The weight they want her is 4 kilograms (or over 8 pounds 12 ounces). Currently she is 1.7 kilograms (which equals approx. 3 pounds 13 ounces). So she has a LONG way to go.
Also the neurosurgeons are pretty sure that she is going to need a shunt (remember I said pretty sure, not positively) and would like to wait until she is over 2 kilograms before doing that. They have been draining fluid from her head every day for the past week or more and today she didn't need it. So time will tell! If her head stays normal without them draining fluid then chances are she won't need a shunt. We are hoping she won't because we would like less surgeries!!!
But she really is doing very well. Her IV nutrition is slowly going down and the amount of breast milk she gets through her feeding tube goes up everyday. She is currently getting about 2 and 1/4 ounces a day spread out over 8 feedings. I'm sure that amount will be increased tomorrow.
She has not received any pain medication in over 24 hours which is wonderful. She was on a drip of pain medicine pretty much since birth so this was a big step to get her off of it. Her 2 IV medications are being changed to go through her feeding tube. And slowly her jaundice is fading (her numbers are still high but they are going down).
She has had a lot more periods of being awake and alert over the last 2 days. It is so nice to see her eyes.
Please pray that Kali's heart continues to improve, or at the very least remain stable so she can gain weight and be as healthy as possible for her surgery!
I am so happy Kali is doing well, you all are in my thoughts every day. I love the pictures of Kali and Darrin, (so does Zach he wants me to print them )awesome big brother, Darrin! Keep on doing what you are doing whatever it is , it's right! Love to everyone,
ReplyDeleteJenn, Zach and Aaron