Day 10: Big Day Tomorrow

Evie had a quite day, with visits from both pairs of grandparents throughout the day, which is good because she was very restless for me last night. Tomorrow (Monday) is a very big day for Evie, as she will hopefully begin the process of being weaned off the ECMO machine.


"Don't worry Evie, it's going to be okay."

Right now, her heart has very little blood passing through it, and although it is beating its normal rate, it's not really pumping anything, and there's not much blood being sent to the lungs, as that's all being taken care of by the ECMO machine. Thus, allowing her heart and lungs to rest by not working to hard.

The weaning process begins by turning the amount of flow down on the ECMO machine, and filling her heart back up with blood; then watching very closely how it performs under more normal circumstances. Sharon and I will both be there tomorrow and will be watching very anxiously throughout the day. Although her heart has shown "normal" function the last three days, if it doesn't perform well under regular circumstances, it will be bad. We are very hopeful and praying, though, that everything works out fine.

Dr. Ilbawi explained to us that Evie's heart had to, "find a new balance," as it had been pumping in a set rhythm with its single ventricle for the last year and a a half. By cutting a hole in her lower ventricle and adding the conduit to increase flow to the lungs, this new pressure upset the balance and the heart muscle was now working in a different way, and so for the past 10 days the ECMO machine has allowed her heart to find its new rhythm and strengthen the muscles needed to adapt to the new pump and flow through the conduit.

While you're saying prayers for Evie, please say an extra one for Sharon's cousin, Susan, who will be having a scheduled c-section at 9:30AM on Monday morning. God bless, Susan and family!

Here's Gavin praying over Evie: