Another procedure

  This weekend was a good one considering all that happened on Thursday. She looked really good with all the swelling gone by Sunday night.  They still have her on pain and sedation and are monitoring the doses based on her agitation.  Saturday afternoon she just slept.  Sunday was a different story, when we got there she was asleep.  But the nurse came in to check some of her vitals and she woke up and just looked around for about thirty minutes.  Mike said it was the most awake she's been since she was born.  It was good to see her eyes and watch her track our voices.  She coughed a couple times letting the nurse know she needed to be suctioned (there's a lot more saliva with the breathing tube).  About ten minutes after being suctioned, she was out cold.  We decided to leave and let her get as much sleep as possible for the week ahead.

 As you know tomorrow Lucy is having a small procedure to have her sternum closed (it was left open during the emergency procedure that was performed after removing the thoracic line).   When everything happened on Thursday, the doctor had to put the thoracic line back in so that all the medicine she needed to go back on could be administered.  To us, this was a huge deal because eventually they would need to remove it and the same thing could happen.  When we spoke with the nurse, we asked about removing that line and how the risk could be lowered.  The best way to lower the risk is to remove the thoracic line when her chest is already open.  With the chest already open any bleeding that happens can be immediatly removed and there would be no risk of cardiac arrest. On Saturday, we spoke with the cardiologist and asked what the possibility of removing the thoracic line while Lucy's sternum was being closed.  Dr. Nater said that it was the best scenario but ultimately the surgeon would make the decision.  The other thing weighing on that decision was how many medicines are needed for her to stay stable (they need a certain number of ports and the thoracic line gives them three ports).  In order for the surgeon to remove the thoracic line, they would need to put another line in (most likely in the groin).  On Sunday morning the surgeon called (my heart skipped a beat seeing that 708 area code) to get consent for a line in the groin.  He had decided that removing the thoracic line while they were closing the sternum was the best case for Lucy.  We are so relieved that this all happening at the same time.  We hope that the recovery will be quick and then a majority of the tubes can be removed.  Then we can start back on our feeding plan so she can put on some weight and come home.