Namine
Namine Olivia Eiche was born on July 15, 2008 with a double-inlet left ventricle heart defect; Pierre Robin sequence, a condition that resulted in a regressed jaw and a partial (U-shaped) cleft palate; caudal regression syndrome (also known as sacral agenesis), which damages the growth of the tailbone and legs, also giving her clubfoot; and scoliosis.
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Blood draw
At about 7:45 this morning, someone came in to draw Namine’s blood for labs. She was such a trooper, especially because it took the lady three tries to get it right. Each time, Namine counted down to the poke: “One, two, three, ow!” Of course she cried. But she didn’t throw up, and she held…
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Diuretics and liquid diets
This is what happens when the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing, kids. The other day during rounds, the doctors had a bit of a freak-out. You see, Namine was on two different diuretics and a restricted liquid diet. So of course they were worried that she would get dehydrated.
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Home tomorrow?
The tentative plan is to send Namine home tomorrow. I say “tentative” because the plan was to send her home today, but she has a fever. They can’t explain the fever – not from the amount of medication she’s on, and certainly not this far out after surgery. So the plan, as it stands now,…
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Namine’s bon mot du jour
“Daddy, I want to go home.” “I know, honey. But we have to stay here until you’re better. Then we can go home.” “You mean I have to stay here a few more days?” “Yeah.” “Aw, dammit.”
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All tucked in
Namine is out of the cardiac ICU and on a general care floor. Still in the hospital, sure, but here it’s a little less stressful. The lack of constant beeping plays a part, I think, but mostly it’s just knowing how well Namine is doing. And, of course, how close we are to going home.
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Meet the new room, same as the old room
After having the central line removed – yeah, that happened – Namine is being moved out of the cardiac ICU up to a standard room. It shouldn’t be much longer until we go home, but for now she’s still on observation. When the doctors met in rounds outside Namine’s room this morning, they decided not…
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Doggies + tacos = happiness
Namine was paid a visit at lunchtime once more by a therapist with a dog. I think she must be getting over her fear of dogs, because she was thrilled to be able to pet this one too.
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A visit from Houdini the therapy dog
Namine enjoyed getting a visit from Houdini the therapy dog.
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Room air and more
This morning they took Namine off the liter of oxygen that she’s been on since coming to the ICU. Her O2 has stayed in the low nineties pretty consistently, so that’s one less thing she needs.
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Never mind
Namine’s pleural drainage tubes had too much output last night, so they’re not removing them this morning. On the other hand, at least she can drink again.
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One more removal
Namine’s heparin is scheduled to be stopped at 4:00 tomorrow morning. Then at 8:00, the remaining two chest tubes and pacing wires will be pulled! This is good news, indeed.
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Real food again
We’re now on day two of getting Namine back to a regular diet. She’s had a variety of things – popsicles, Jell-O, chicken broth, and applesauce. She still hasn’t eaten a whole lot, but the fact that she’s willing to try a larger variety of food is enough for now.