Yesterday afternoon Casey moved out of the PICU and into the IMC. The IMC is where we usually get admitted so we are much more comfortable here. The staff knows Casey (& us). The room is a little bigger & it has a shower (we stink). There is still low patient:nurse ratio as well so when Casey needs help we can get it quickly.
Casey threw up more blood yesterday, and she has bloody stools as well. We are worried about the GI bleed right now. Her blood count has been falling daily and she required a blood transfusion today. It’s tricky because there are so many factors here; the bleed could still be from the same source as the bleed pre-surgery. It could be a bleed from the thin/damaged tissue used to close the old tube site. Or it could be bleeding due to the amount of stress and pressure she has been under while working to open her lung. The doctors have added/changed some medications in order to try to target & potentially resolve the bleed. We’ll keep a close eye on her blood count as well as what she has coming out. We should know if its working in the next few days.
Casey has started fighting bipap treatments. She usually tolerates it when she needs it, but once her lungs start to feel stronger she fights to get the mask off. This is a generally a good sign. However, it’s possible she is fighting not because her lung is better, but due to the air pressure upsetting her stomach. We’ll still try bipap at night and keep it on as long as she will let us. As worried as we are about her GI bleed, we have to continue as many pulmonary treatments as possible.
Today doctors started moving as many of her medications as possible from IV to oral (j tube). Once things are moved to the j tube and we have some answers & progress on the bleed we can do the rest of the work toward recovery at home. It will still be a lot of work, but being at home will make such a huge difference for all of us.
Casey is starting to get some of her attitude back. She is giving doctors the stink eye and trying to move around some. Since the first time she stretched after surgery was also the first time she threw up a good amount of blood, we are on edge whenever she stretches now (Tim a little more than me), but still happy to see her getting some strength back.