Evie Update - Day 3

Evie had a good day today! She was kept sedated all night with Fentanyl and Versed (intravenously). Around noon, the nurse turned off those meds and allowed her to wake up enough to remove the breathing tube (had to make sure Evie didn't drift back to sleep and forget to breathe)!

True to form, Evie indicated that she was thirsty and let us know just how mad she was that she couldn't have a big gulp of water as soon as that tube came out of her throat. She had to wait, because she had a tiny bit of clear stomach-bile-vomit and the doctor didn't want her to vomit any more, so he instructed us to wait about 2 hours before giving her a big drink.

She was very pleased to be able to sit up, though! All the better to watch her DVDs. Of course, I fixed her pigtails. Surprisingly, she didn't want both of them in, so I just did one on the top:



We asked if Evie could at least moisten her mouth with one of these little sponges-on-a-stick. The doctor agreed and Evie became a happy little girl.



"Ahhh, that's better - my mouth was sooo dry!"




Evie is still shaking off the effects of the sedatives at this point, so if she looks a little glassy-eyed, that's why!




Below is a video of her dipping her sponge in water. She was determined to do it herself:

So she is off the ventilator and the nasogastric tube, and her Foley catheter was removed today. Despite the not-so-great results of her procedure, she is doing very well now and coping pretty well, too! She is old enough to understand that it's not all bad being in the hospital - she can watch movies all day and eat in her bed! And as long as she breathes and eats well, she should be able to come home tomorrow!

I also want to clarify something: yesterday we mentioned that she had a "mini-arrest" during her angiogram procedure. This happened because (according to the cath doctor) the "catheter was stretched across two valves and her body didn't like that." Her blood pressure dropped, and so did her heart rate, but her heart never, never actually stopped. It is one of the risks of doing this procedure, and luckily Evie was surrounded by nurses and doctors who have done many angiograms and were prepared for anything.