Christmas Day Update

I went to McMinnville Saturday morning and spent the day with Kelsey and Jennifer's family. It was their "family day", where each person gets an hour that everyone else has to do whatever they want to do. For one (actually 2) of the timeslots, we went to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks" in the afternoon (it was really cute and funny). We also played Disney Scene It, some home-made games (Jenn's mom), and earlier in the day the kids went to Lowe's and made something during one of their workshops. This year was a little different than in the past, but still good to spend time with family.

We went to the early service Sunday morning at Christ United Methodist and Kelsey & I sang a couple of songs (Mary Did You Know & O Little Town of Bethlehem). We didn't have much time to practice or have any music, so we sang without music. We did better while we were practicing, but it is for God's glory not our own anyway. Kelsey sang beautiful as always. :-) (proud Dad)

I came back home Sunday afternoon with my brother-in-law Phillip and went to the Titans game (YEAH!!!! We won and now control our own destiny to get into the playoffs). Courtney was excited because Kelsey surprised her and came home to play with her during the Titans game. Jenn, Phillip, & Kelsey went back to McMinnville Sunday night.

Courtney and I had a great time together the last 2 days. We played more Go Fish, Bunco, & Disney Scene It than I have in quite some time. We also watched several Christmas movies & read some from here new "High School Musical" book. She also helped me straighten up around the house since we haven't been able to do much of that lately.

Jennifer and Kelsey had a good time in McMinnville and got back tonight about 6:00 PM. Courtney and I opened gifts from Jennifer's extended family tonight. Jennifer's mom is coming up for dinner tomorrow night and Courtney & I will open gifts from Jennifer's parents and her sister's family.

We normally go to Sweetwater to my parents' house the week before Christmas, but Courtney was in the hospital then. So instead of us going there, they may be able to come over this weekend to exchange gifts and visit.

I hope that all of you had a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for your prayers, cards, gifts, and words of encouragement. It is nice to know that so many people care about us and love Courtney.

Randy

Christmas at Home

We all enjoyed a home cooked meal Thursday night (Thank you to the Anderson family) and Courtney slept well again until she woke up early Friday morning when I got up. I had to get the van worked on, get it re-tested, and then renew the tags. The girls got ready while I was out and when I came back, we opened our gifts to one another.

Courtney loved her new kid's camcorder. She took pictures and movies with it all afternoon.

She also liked her High School Musical book, sleeping bag (for our camping trips next spring), and the gifts that we all made for her.

Kelsey loved her Nintendo DS, sleeping bag, and gifts we made for her also. As you can tell from the picture, they love each other very much. :-)


My favorite gifts are always the ones that we make for each other. Jenn made me a plate to include in our hobby room with my other sports plates and the girls wrote me a poem with colored hearts, and a picture of them in a frame. I will find a spot to prominently display that. :-)

In the afternoon, Jenn & Kelsey went to Opry Mills and the ICE exhibit with family members from out of town (including Jenn's cousin Caryn and her kids in from Maine this week). Then everybody came to the house to see Courtney afterwards and exchanged gifts with Caryn's family (since they will be going to Memphis this weekend).

Kelsey went to McMinnville tonight with Jenn's Mom & grandmother. I will be going down tomorrow morning to spend the night, go to church Sunday morning, and then come back for the Titans game . Jenn will stay here with Courtney until Sunday night and then she will go to McMinnville for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with her family.

Friday night we enjoyed chili and salsa & chips for dinner (thanks again to the Anderson family - desserts are good also).

This Christmas will have many mixed emotions (happy that Courtney is doing so well after her surgery, sad that this will be the 1st Christmas that we have been apart in 8 or 9 years). I think Kelsey is really having a hard time with it, so please continue to lift her up.

Well, I am watching Courtney tonight, so that is all for now.

Randy

Updated Pictures

As I promised in an earlier post, here are some pictures from the hospital showing how ready Courtney was to come home.

I CAN"T DOUBLE OVER LIKE THAT WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS, MUCH LESS 7 DAYS AFTER HEART SURGERY!!!!

She had a good afternoon yesterday at home and kept her SATs up during the night while she slept. We have converted the living room downstairs into her bedroom temporarily by moving her trundle bed down from her bedroom. She did finally complain about some pain in her chest and I gave her some Tylenol last night, but that may have been due to the mattress on the bed. I am going to check into that more today.

It was nice to be at home together for the first time in awhile and eat a nice meal (Thanks Teresa). Jennifer washed Courtney's hair yesterday and Kelsey brushed it out for her. Me and the girls watched a movie together while Jenn took a nap. We swapped out about midnight since I had to come in to work today.

We are trying to get settled back in at home and making plans for Christmas.

I hope each of you have a very Merry Christmas and pray for safe travel.

Thank you,

Randy

COURTNEY IS HOME!!!!!

I picked up everyone at the hospital this afternoon and got Courtney settled in a little bit at home and I am back at work. I will update more tonight after I get home, but I just wanted to let everyone know that Courtney is home and we are so happy.

Randy

WE ARE HEADED HOME!!!!!!

Courtney had a good night sleeping last night. Jennifer called and said that Dr. Drinkwater has already been by this morning and thought she looked great. They have started the release process by putting in the orders. I just spoke with Jennifer and they expect us to be able to leave around 11:00. I wll leave work and go pick them up to take them home then.

Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to update the blog as she progresses at home.

I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and will be saying a special prayer for travel mercies for everyone during this wonderful time of year.

Randy

Courtney is ready to go - Don't know about the doctors yet. :-)

When I got to the hospital tonight, Courtney was still off the oxygen and was sitting in a chair eating dinner. She ate all of her baked sweet potato, macaroni & cheese, spaghetti, & jello and drank all of her Powerade. She has had another bowel movement, walked a rut into the tile on the 6th floor :-), went to the playroom today for playtime, and had people coming in to see if she was laughing or crying earlier today because she was so loud.

The topper for me though was when she was talking on the phone with Kelsey and she was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed (took a picture but it is not uploaded yet) and then she actually bent over double and put her head on the bed (got a picture of that also). We asked her if that hurt and of course she said, "Well No". I am going to ask my Dad if he was able to do that 1 week after his heart surgery. I am sure I know the answer to that one.

We haven't been told anything by the doctors, but we think we will get to go home tomorrow. Courtney even told my Mom on the phone that she is going home tomorrow. Kelsey and I are sleeping at home tonight. I am going in to work in the morning and Robin is picking Kelsey up to take her to the hospital. Hopefully sometime after the morning rounds, I will get a call telling me to come pick them up and take them home. :-)

I left the hospital at 10:30 and Courtney was still off the oxygen and her SATs were around 98. I pray that she will keep them up during the night and get a good night's sleep.

Thank you once again for your support.

Randy

Almost There!!!

Sorry that I did not get to submit a blog last night or this morning. After the ordeal with the bowel movement last night, everybody was kind of worn out. Courtney did eat well though. She had a baked sweet potato, Chef Boyardee ABC & 123's, jello, a drink, and some pudding. After we all ate, Jennifer watched a movie on my laptop and I watched the end of the football game and then we all went to sleep. Courtney was asleep by 9:30 and slept really well through the night. However, that meant she was up and ready to go this morning about 7 am.

They started weaning her off of the oxygen last night and actually took her off of it completely around 2 AM. Her O2 SATs dropped to around 80 for 10 or 15 minutes without coming back up, so they moved the oxygen back up to .25 %. They tried taking her off of the oxygen again this afternoon and she was doing great as long as she was up and active. She laid down to take a nap and Jenn said as soon as her heart rate dropped (when she was in a deep sleep), her SATs dropped down to 91 -92. We usually give her some oxygen assistance if she goes below 93 for a period of time. I haven't talked to her since 2 PM, so I will update once I get to the hospital and get the latest.

Kelsey got to sleep in today and felt much better. The white spots on the bump are gone and she says that her throat isn't sore. She is still bummed that she can't come to the hospital and Courtney keeps asking for her also. I think either Jenn or I will go home and stay with Kelsey tonight.

It appears that we need to be able to avoid using the oxygen for 24 hours or at least during the night while she is sleeping. So that is what we need the prayer support for now. We would like to go home tomorrow, but it could be Thursday now depending on how she does tonight.

I hope this blog has been helpful to each of you who are reading it. I know it makes it easier on us being able to get our message out completely and make sure we are telling everyone the same thing.

Thank you for your prayer support, your kind & encouraging words, and for helping us to realize how many people there are that love us and care about us.

Randy

Monday Evening - New Twist

Courtney has had a pretty good day. She has been walking around the 6th floor many times this afternoon. As I said earlier, she ate all of her breakfast and she ate all of her mashed potatoes, tomato soup, & part of her pudding for lunch. However, she still hasn't had a bowel movement and she is complaining about her stomach hurting. She is getting a laxative twice a day (hasn't helped yet), and the nurse just gave her a suppository to see if that will help. This is the most pain she has experienced since the surgery. (Before I could finish this and ask for prayer support, the suppository kicked in). She was finally able to have a bowel movement - after many tears and much prayer :-) She is feeling much better now and sitting up in bed eating dinner.

In the meantime, Kelsey started complaining this morning about her throat hurting and when Jennifer looked at her mouth, she saw white spots and thought it would be best to check it out. So she called me at work and I came to stay with Courtney while she took her to the doctor. The 1st test they did came back negative for strep throat, but we will have to wait a couple of days for the long term test to come back. However, since we are not sure what she might have, the doctor advised that we keep her away from Courtney for 24 - 48 hours (not what her or Courtney either one wanted to hear). She probably is not contagious, but the doctor said that we should monitor and limit her activity for the next day or so. She is spending the night with a friend tonight.

We haven't spoken with anyone about Courtney's last x-ray or when they think we will be leaving. Now that we have had a bowel movement, we think we are just waiting on her being weaned off the oxygen. We are at 1% oxygen right now and she has been maintaining her SATs pretty well. It now looks like it may be Wednesday before we go home, but things can change pretty quick around here sometimes.

I will update again tonight if we find out anything. If not, I will update tomorrow morning after speaking with the doctors.

Randy

Monday Morning Update

Kelsey spent the night with a friend last night & I left late and spent the night at home so that I could go to work today. Kelsey will be back at the hospital this morning. I just spoke with Jenn and she said that Courtney slept good until about 2 AM. She had to get up to go to the bathroom and then wanted Jennifer to rock her. She rocked some and then slept in bed till about 8.

She has been walking again this morning and she ate all of her breakfast (cream of wheat, yogurt, & chocolate milk). She still hasn't had a bowel movement and she is currently on 1 liter of oxygen. Jenn said that they had to turn the volume up when she got up and was active. She was junky yesterday and again today, so they are going to restart the CPPD treatments. Jennifer has not spoken with any doctors this morning, so we still don't know what their plans are for us leaving. If we can get her off the O2 today and she does well overnight, we might get to take her home tomorrow. But with Courtney, we won't count our chickens before they hatch. :-)

Thank you for your prayer support and a big thank you for the food that was brought last night from our friends in the New Life class at church.

We've Got a Room!!!!!!

Robin is currently talking to the nurse that Courtney will have when we move to the floor. Our bags are packed and waiting on the word to go.

We have had several visitors today and Courtney has gone walking 5 times now and still doing really well.

Today, Robin removed the stitches from where the chest tubes were at and the central line stitches were removed yesterday.

We will go to the floor with the oxygen and continue weaning her off of that throughout the rest of the day.

Thank you for your support.

Randy

Courtney is Cruising the Neighborhood

This morning when I got back in the room after shift change, we went for a walk (all the way around the PCCU neighborhood). She looked at the Christmas trees in the hallway and looked out the windows. She wanted to sit in my lap and watch some TV when we got back. She was tired and wanted to get in bed just about the time Jennifer and Kelsey got here.

While I went to take a shower, Courtney ate about half of her yogurt and drank plenty of apple juice and chocolate milk. I got back to the room and she had left to go walking around the neighborhood again with Jennifer, Kelsey, & Robin. Her O2 volume has been turned down to 2 liters and she is still keeping her O2 SATs up. Dr. Drinkwater came in to check on her this morning and said the chest tube stitches can be removed and was pleased with her progress. Robin will pull those out later this morning.

We will be moving to a room on the floor sometime later today. When we get to go home will depend on how quickly she can wean off the oxygen and how well she eats. It could be anytime between tomorrow & Wednesday. We are guessing Tuesday, but won't know anything for sure till later today or tomorrow morning.

I am attaching some pictures that we have taken over the last couple of days.

Thank you again for your support.

Randy

Sunday Morning Shift Change Report

I got some rest between 3:30 and 6:00. They had to draw blood this morning for her labs and had to stick her to get them. Her IV is working for pushing meds in, but it doesn't work drawing blood. She cried some, as she normally does when they stick her to draw blood, but her SATs stayed in the low 90's and were up to 96 when I left at 6:45 for the shift change. She slept well most of the night (except when they were checking on her or drawing blood) and her SATs stayed up pretty good. However, they did increase the O2 volume to 3 liters.

The doctor came in and listened to her and said her lungs sounded great. They discontinued the feeds through her Mic-Key button and will allow her to start eating food today (as she can tolerate it). I am sure she will start off with yogurt this morning & at some point today she will want her pudding.

I am calling Jenn at 7:30 and then her and Kelsey will be leaving at 8:00 to come back over here. I will update again later this morning on how she tolerates food and how she does once she is up and moving around on just the oxygen.

Thank you again for your prayer support. If you are headed to church this morning, please lift up our joys that she is doing much better and continue to pray that she will continue her recovery and get to go to a room soon. I am continually amazed at how many people are praying for Courtney and our family right now. I know of at least 9 states that I have received comments or e-mails from and 2 people that I work with remotely in Mexico have said they are praying for her also.

God has continued to watch over her during this process and continues to bless us daily with both our beautiful daughters. Kelsey has been such a great sister to Courtney, not just through this time, but always through the years. Please lift her up this morning also.

I want to thank the DCA basketball team and coaches again for their support and working with us to help Kelsey through this difficult time.

Randy

Weaning Process is Going Great!!!!

The RT came back in about 1:00 AM and removed the mask from Courtney and turned off the CPAP. She replaced that with a nasal cannula with no pressure support, just oxygen at 2.5 liters volume. Her O2 SATs were at 96 from the beginning and went up to 99 at 1:15 and were still around 96 at 2:30. The RT just finished her CPPD at 3:10 and her O2 SATs are still at 96 lying on her left side. She was lying on her right side most of the night.

I am going to rest a little now and will update later this morning if there are any changes.

Randy

Saturday Night Update

Courtney continued to have a very good day today. She has been up several times today to go potty and done a few marching steps and arm lift excercises each time she got up. This afternoon, the RT moved the peep pressure settings down to 8 /5, which is the lowest setting before starting the move off the biPAP machine.

Kelsey and Jenn went to Kelsey's basketball game this afternoon. When they came back, the girls played with Courtney's High School Musical dolls and sang songs. We ordered chinese food and the 3 of us ate supper in the cafeteria. After singing some more songs for Courtney, Jenn and Kelsey left at 9 to spend the night at home and come back in the morning. Courtney wants them to bring back her Titans jersey tomorrow so she can wear it while we watch the game.

The RT came in tonight about 10:30 PM and turned off the inspitory pressure on the biPAP machine. That means that she is now only on CPAP with a setting of 5 and the oxygen level is at 35%. She is going to sleep and her O2 SATs are fluctuating between 94 and 97 right now. The plan is to leave her at this setting for a couple of hours and if she keeps her SATs up, they will remove the biPAP mask and use a nasal cannula for oxygen support to see how she does.

I will be anxiously watching the monitor for the next several hours and praying for her little lungs to continue to get stronger and be able to come off the support tomorrow. I have a couple of movies to watch and plenty of caffeine, so I am set for the night.

I will update early tomorrow morning on how she does with the weaning process tonight and early morning.

Randy

Saturday Morning Update

Courtney had her best night yet last night. They were able to wean her O2 down to 40% while she was sleeping and they started the weaning process on the peep pressure this morning. They had to crank up the O2 a little when they first moved down the peep pressure, but she is currently at 45% O2 and the peep pressures are at 12 / 7 (originally at 14 / 8).

I slept at home last night with Kelsey and came back this morning. When we came in, Robin was giving Courtney a sponge bath. She is wearing her own pajamas and sat in Kelsey's lap while they were watching Ratatooie (not sure of the spelling). Of course we took pictures and hopefully will have them on the blog site tomorrow (I need to get the USB converter cable for the camera at home later today). Kelsey has a basketball game later today at DCA, so her and Jenn will be going there and running by the house.

The plan is to continue weaning her peep pressures today and get her moving around. She is standing on her own (with Jenn helping with support) doing exercises right now (yes, we got more pictures :-). She is able to move around pretty good with no pain in her chest area.

Dr. Marek told us that her x-ray this morning looked "pristine", pretty & black and that all of the cloudiness was gone. I don't know if Courtney has ever had that term used to describe an x-ray, even when she was not sick.

I will update later if we decrease the pressures or have anything new to update.

Thank you for your continued support.

Randy

Updated Plans

Courtney slept well until about 5:30 or so. They came in to do a chest x-ray, then she decided to go potty. I helped her out of bed and onto the potty, but she still isn't producing much and she is complaining about pain in her belly. After her CPPD, she was able to cough up quite a bit of secretions and her O2 SATs didn't drop as bad as they have been with the biPAP mask off. She also brought her SATs back up quicker than she had been.

This morning during the doctor rounds, they came up with a plan for weaning her off the biPAP. They will wean the O2 down gradually until we get to 50% with her maintaining her SATs. Once she can maintain that overnight, then they will start adjusting the peep values (the amount of pressure that it uses to blow the air) on the biPAP to see if she maintains her SATs. They are also taking the mask off a couple of times during the day for very short periods of time to help strengthen her lungs. If all goes well, we could be in a room on the floor sometime between Sunday and Tuesday. If she goes at a slower pace, we will just have to adjust accordingly. She is currently at 55 % and her SATs are staying at 94.

The nurse put her in a standing position after she went potty this morning. She was able to stand on her own and lift one foot then another [twice] before being placed back in the bed.

They tried unsuccessfully to put the catheter back in this morning to help her from holding in urine. She was able to produce more on her own after that, but it is still a concern.

I will update the blog again later tonight to let everyone know how we progressed with the weaning process.

Thank you,

Randy

Friday Morning Update (Early)

I took Kelsey to a friend's house yesterday afternoon (1st time I have left the hospital since we got here Tuesday morning). The Concert Choir sang at the YMCA last night and then they were having a party at their choir director's house. Kelsey is spending the night with a friend and they are bringing her back to the hospital this morning. I went to the house and ate supper, dozed while watching a little TV, slept in my own bed until 11:00 , took a shower, and came back to the hospital. We were able to get a family sleep room again, so Jenn gave me the Courtney update and left a little while ago to sleep there.

Paul Turner stopped by this afternoon, as well as Jennifer's parents. Since they have started feeding Courtney via the Mic-Key button, they are now giving her Tylenol w/codeine through the tube. That pretty much knocked her out for awhile. They also pulled the catheter today and Courtney is having some trouble with gas pains and not wanting to go potty in the bed or in the room. Jennifer said she had to help her 3 times this evening get to the potty. She also got to hold Courtney and rock while she was getting her CPPD treatment tonight. Typical Courtney - her O2 SATs were around 91 - 93 in the bed. With Jennifer rocking her, while she was getting her CPPD done, she was up to 100%. The nurse couldn't believe it, but that has always been typical of her when she has been in the hospital. She has always responded better when we are in the room or able to hold her.

She is sleeping soundly right now - 70% oxygen level on the biPAP and her O2 SATs are 99 - 100%. Hopefully she will continue to sleep well through the rest of the night. Before I forget - Courtney has lost both of the IVs that were in her hands. Since they have already removed the ART line from her leg, the only IV access we have left is in her neck. That means we have to be extremely careful with that access and pray that it functions well until we don't need it any longer.

I will try to update more after the morning rounds by the doctors. We have to be out of the room each morning from 6:45 - 8:00, so I may not know anything more until then.

Thank you for your support and concern for our little angel.

Randy

Thursday Afternoon Update

As usual, Courtney isn't following the normal pattern or the one we had hoped she would. They had told us to expect 7 -10 days in the hospital, we were hoping for 5 -6, but now we are not sure how long we will be here. The doctor told us this afternoon that he expects her to be on biPAP for "a while". I asked him how long that meant. He said it was totally dependent on her.

The issue is that they aren't sure whether the haziness in the x-ray of her lower lobes of her lungs is secretions that she hasn't been able to clear or that the lobes have collapsed. So, they are starting antibiotics in case it is secretions to treat it before it becomes infected and they increased the peep pressures on the biPAP to help open her lobes if they have somewhat collapsed.

She is a lot more irritable this afternoon because she does not like the mask on her face and she is not able to drink as much as she would like to. However, she did give a big smile and wave to our pastor when he came by to visit and to Aunt Judy when she came by this afternoon. Kelsey showed her the basketball that the DCA girls & coaches signed for her and that also brought a smile to her face.

We will not be weaning her off the biPAP today, but hopefully will be able to start tomorrow. It will depend on how she does as the oxygen level is weaned and how her lungs open up with the pressure & CPPD.

We have started feeding her via the Mic-Key button, the ART line was also pulled out this morning, and Robin is getting her up now and letting her legs hang off the edge of the bed. So we do have some progress being made.

Keep lifting up those prayers.

Thanks,

Randy

Thursday Morning Report

Courtney slept pretty good through the night. They were able to wean the Oxygen level on the biPAP machine down to 60% and she kept her SATs up pretty good. Either she has not been in pain or she is just tough, because everytime we ask her if she hurts or if she wants medicine, she says No. I got a little sleep during the night in a chair in her room and then slept for an hour this morning in the family sleep room they gave us.

Dr. Drinkwater came in this morning and removed the chest tubes and ordered another chest x-ray. He looked at the last x-ray and saw some hazy/junky spots on her left lung. He said it could possibly be pneumonia (he emphasized pneumonia with a "little p"). They are going to start treatment for that today and do CPPD (percussion on her left lung) every 4 hours. They feel that it will be a slow process to wean her off the biPAP machine, so my guess is that we won't be going to the floor today. Dr. Drinkwater didn't say that, but said we would not be going until we were off the biPAP and didn't think that would be this morning.

Robin (nurse) is going to try to get her up some today. Courtney seems to be sitting up a lot easier now & not hurting as much when she coughs. They gave her some more pain medicine this morning for the chest tube removal and she is sleeping soundly right now. They turned the O2 level back up to 70 on the biPAP machine and will start weaning it back down as the morning progresses.

Thank you again for your overwhelming prayer support.

Randy

Evening Report for Wednesday

Kelsey has a doctor appt tomorrow, so Jennifer went home with her and will sleep at home tonight. We have a family sleep room again tonight, but I probably will not use it until the shift change in the morning. There is a pull-out bed in Courtney's room in the PCCU that I will use to catch a nap later if she is doing well.

She is sleeping well right now. Her O2 sat is 97, she is still on the bi-pap machine at 80% oxygen level, and she is not laboring with her breathing.

Kelsey came in this afternoon after basketball practice and got Courtney to smile and talk to her a little bit. Courtney even asked to listen to the High School Musical Concert DVD.

She is still very tired after her rough start this morning. The doctors have decided to keep her on the bi-pap machine overnight, keep her comfortable with her pain medicine, and try weaning her off the O2 and bi-pap machine tomorrow. Robin (Courtney's primary nurse from our very 1st stay at Vandy & a very good family friend) will be taking care of her tomorrow. She has already said she would have her up and moving around tomorrow. There is still a chance we could move to the floor tomorrow, but it all depends on tonight and how well she weans off the bi-pap tomorrow.

The basketball team at DCA all signed a ball for Courtney. Kelsey is going to give it to her tomorrow when she is alert and feeling better. Special thanks to Coach Winfree who came by to see Courtney Tuesday night and thought of that as a gift. He knows how much basketball means to Courtney and how much she loves watching the team play.

I will try to update again tomorrow morning after the nurse's shift change.

Thank you for your support.

Randy

Not much change this afternoon

Courtney has remained on the bi-pap machine and slept most of the afternoon. The Lasix is taking off the fluid, but her lungs still sound wet. She just woke up and coughed some for us and the nurse suctioned out her mouth. Kelsey is here now and helped Jenn and the nurse move her around some in the bed to reposition her.

Her lungs sound better, but she is still in some pain. We had some visitors today, but Courtney probably won't remember them being here. Dr. Drinkwater came by earlier today to discuss her prognosis and the possibilities for moving to the floor (possibly tomorrow if she does well ovenight). She will have to show she can breath okay without the bi-pap.

I will update more later, but right now there isn't much change.

Thank you for your prayer support,

Randy

Courtney Update

Well, things did not get off to a good start this morning. When we went back in this morning, they had given Courtney an albuterol treatment and it hadn't helped much. When they listened to her lungs, one side sounded wet (secretions/fluids) and the other side is diminished (air not flowing freely).

They have started giving her lasix twice a day to help draw off the fluids and decided to put her on a bi-pap machine to help open her airways. She can't stand having a mask on, so we had to help her get through that. She is wearing it now and her sats are good and she is sleeping. They are trying to regulate her pain medicine right now to keep her comfortable, because she is definitely in more pain today.

The 2nd problem is that she was very thirsty and has been drinking plenty of apple juice, but the last few times she has tried drinking it, she has choked and we had to suction. For some reason, she is not swallowing it properly.

So, we are holding off on drinking any more juice right now, continue the lasix, stay on the bi-pap for awhile, and then check her gases with the next bloodwork.

She is sleeping somewhat peacefully now.

I will update as warranted throughout the day. Just help us pray that we (doctors, nurses, specialists, us) can figure out what she needs to get her breathing back to normal and to be able to drink her juice.

Thank you,

Randy

Morning Report

We didn't get much sleep last night. We did get a sleep room that we could use (full bath, TV, and a bed), so I took a 3 hour nap from about 11:30 - 2:30. Jenn went to the room about 2:45 and is still there. I am not sure how much sleep she got though. I am writing this before I go into the room. The nurse shift change is going on now & we have to be out from 6:45 - 8:00.

They took the tube out last night just before we got to go back in at 8:00 and she did okay most of the night. Jennifer said she had a few times that she had trouble with her breathing & we are having to coax her into coughing. She seems to be building up secretions (she has never had to cough them all the way up to her mouth before), and that is making her O2 sats drop.

They had weaned her O2 down to 1 liter and her O2 sats were at 97. Then this morning, they did a chest x-ray (she had to sit up to put the board behind her & then lean back on it and she didn't like that. Then they decided to move her to a different room where she could be paired with someone else since she wasn't on the ventilator. She had a coughing/choking spell when we got to the new room and her sats dropped. They increased the O2 to 4 liters and finally as I was about to leave, her sats have gotten back up to 93/94. That still isn't where we need them to be, but it is a start. They are going to do an albuterol treatment to see if they can get some of it cleared up. They gave her some more pain medicine before I left and she was doing better.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers today.

Thank you,

Randy

Courtney is looking great

We are in a room now in the PCCU. She has opened her eyes a few times and really looks good despite all of the tubes and a little swelling.

Grandparents are back on the road, as well as Jenn's sister Christy. We will be staying her tonight and Kelsey will be staying with the Sanders' family.

Thank you for your support and to those who were so kind to visit today.

I will update more as I have a chance.

Randy

Surgery was a Success!!!!

Sorry I couldn't update this sooner. It seemed that everytime I started to come down, we were getting more news and then we had to stagger our lunches so that one of us was always available.

We just spoke with Dr. Drinkwater (surgeon) about 30 minutes ago. Everything went well and they have successfully replaced the valve, inserted pacemaker leads, took her off the bypass machine, sewed her back up, and got the okay from cardiology that everything was working well.

They will be moving her to a room shortly and we will hopefully get to see her in another 30 minutes or so.

Thank you so much for your prayer support, it was definitely appreciated and felt throughout the day. Please continue to keep us lifted up as we start the recovery process. Once we are in a room, I will be able to answer some of the individual e-mails & comments.

Praise the Lord, for He is good.

Update

We received a call about an hour ago confirming that everything was going well. They were able to get the access lines in place with "relative ease". That is pretty good considering Courtney's past experiences. They had made the incision and the surgeon was beginning to start his work.

We are expecting another update around 10:00.

Randy

Courtney is in the operating room

The anesthesia team took Courtney from the holding room about 7:00 and she was in the operating room by 8:00. They should give regular updates every 30 minutes or so once they get the access lines in place.

My Mom & Dad, Jenn's Mom & Dad are here with me, Jenn, & Kelsey. Our associate pastor stopped in for prayer this morning and stayed awhile. Ms. Byrd is supposed to be coming by later.

I will update as I have a chance as we get updates.

Thank you for your support.

Randy

Headed to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital

It is 4:30 and we will be leaving in about 20 minutes. We didn't get much sleep, but we have been used to that. Courtney didn't get to sleep early even though she laid down pretty early. I am not sure if she is starting to think about the surgery or not. We will be getting her up in just a few minutes. We have to be at Vanderbilt at 5:30.

I will write more later as I can. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers throughout the day.

Thank you,

Randy

Update on Courtney

Well, leave it to Courtney to add something new to the mix.


Today when Jennifer took her in for the bloodwork for tomorrow's surgery, Dr. Doyle (Pediatric cardiologist) wanted to do another EKG. While reviewing the EKG from the pre-op work done last week, he discovered an arrhythmia and wanted to verify whether it was something consistent since they had never seen this before. The EKG showed the same arrhythmia and they sent her home with a monitor that will record her heartbeats until the surgery tomorrow.


Dr. Doyle is going to speak with Dr. Drinkwater (Cardio-thoracic surgeon) about inserting pacemaker leads into the heart during the surgery tomorrow. He advised us that they think the surgery will last at least 6 hours, since they will have to not only cut, but unwire her chest bone and then cut through the scar tissue from previous surgeries.

We have to be at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning. The surgery should begin sometime between 6:30 & 8:00.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.


Feel free to pass this link on to anyone else that I have missed or you think may be interested in reading.


Randy