Love those baby blues......

Estelle has had a big day so far...and the day is not over yet!

The meds are slowly leaving her body, and Estelle is more and more aware of her surroundings.  The doctors took her breathing tube out this morning, and now she is on O2 (5 liters).  Her color looks good.  Dr White (neurology) came in to speak to her.  He is quite the character.  He is a big (tall) man with a booming, yet friendly voice.  Estelle responded quickly and positive to him.  She was not sure where she was, but she recognized Bobby, Steve and myself.  Estelle knew she has 2 granddaughters and told us their names.  She had the sweetest smile on her face, and it was nice to see those baby blues again.  Dr White continues to be cautiously optimistic with her progress.  He does not like to make promises, but things are going well.

Estelle has been uncomfortable at times.  At first is seemed general, but as she woke up more, she was able to say her pelvic area was the source of pain.  They are checking her for a UTI.  Estelle is taking medication by mouth, drinking a little fluid and sucking on ice.  She keeps asking us, "what happened".  She keeps hoping this was all a "bad dream".  With some time, and more of the meds out of her system, hopefully her short term memory will improve.....she said it was hard to focus.

We got the results of the heart ECHO.  Estelle's "ejection fracture" (strength of function of heart)  is normal!!  This is wonderful!  She does however have some stenosis (narrowing) near the Mitral valve area and some Mitral valve leakage.  The information was not surprising.  This has been being monitored by her cardiologist.


Thanks so much for all of the prayers, meals, visits, emails, babysitting, and so much more!  We could not being doing this without you all!  Thanks for giving us strength during this difficult time.

Love you you all!!

Christy for the Davis family

Positive signs

At 12:30m pm today, the doctors started to "warm" Estelle.  This is a long progress, but as of now she is near a normal temp.  She has been moving around a little. Estelle began to look like she was fighting the breathing tube a little, so the staff and doctors made the decision to medicate her this evening.  Bobby was a little disappointed, he would not be able to talk to her until tomorrow. The staff will keep her comfortable tonight and plan to pull the breathing tube in the morning.

The neurologist did an EEG and a small assessment... just a few moments ago. Dr White said he is "cautiously optimist". Estelle is having a lot of brain activity, she is not having any seizures, and is able to open, then shut (and keep shut) her eyes, on command.  He said when Estelle can speak, and she is not so medicated, he can do a better assessment on her.

Things are where they should be at this point.  Keep on praying, He is listening.

Still waiting to hear the results of the ECHO.

Thanks so much! Love to all!!

Christy for the Davis Family

Life throws you punches, and we got hit.

Today, is not a day I will talk about Sydney.  She is doing great.

Today is a day about "Grandmommy" (Steve's mom).  Today, we need prayers, and lots of them. Today Estelle went to church and went into full cardiac arrest during service. There were no warning signs.  There was no slowing down on her part.  No signs of being out of breath. Nothing. This was just out-of-the-blue!!

God was on her side...a few Nurses and EMT's were attending service that day.  They gave her CPR right away.  The local Emergency gave Estelle a few "shocks" and took her to the hospital. Estelle was "cooled" right away...the newest technology out there. By colling her down (done with icepacks) will improve her chances of recovery and quality of recovery (ex preventing brain damage).  This will give her a fighting change.
http://blog.vcu.edu/healthsciences/2009/11/resuscitation_and_survival_rat.html

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  Only time will tell what the outcome will be, but we remain positive. The church, friends, EMT's and hospital responded quickly...so she has so many things on her side...and she is tough...nothing gets her down. Keep on praying. Time will answer our questions, but God is listening to our prayers.

6 month post op-visit

I have been terrible about keeping up with my posts lately. We got home from the hospital, and hit the ground running....literally. It's strange to see that life just keeps on going, with or without you....despite whether you have a sick kid in the hospital or not. It has taken forever to get caught up (even with the help of others---God bless you all!!), and I am really still not there. Oh well. I have learned some of these things are just not that important. Spending time with my family...is the most important thing ever. Cherishing ever moment of every day...is the most important. And of course for me...helping others, continues to be important.

Today, was a big day. It has been 6 months since we got home from UVA. 6 months of recovery, growth and development. 6 months of emotional healing for all of us. Sydney looks so good! She is pink. O2 levels 95-96%. I hoped the appointment would show me what I believed to be true.

Sydney's pacemaker was checked by Metronic, and no changes needed to be made. She is doing great on the settings that were made at the last appointment. Because of the settings, Sydney is not using the pacemaker as much. Metronic said Sydney should be able to get 6 years out of the battery at this rate. Great news!!

Dr Falterman was excited about how much Sydney had grown. 33 1/2 pounds, almost 40inches tall, blood pressure good and Sydney pinkness! Her liver was still down, but soft at 2 inches....which is normal for her. She did notice Sydney's murmur was different then before. Dr F did a very detailed ECHO to see if she could find the source of the noise. There is a collateral vessel that has opened up attached to the Glenn (2nd surgery she had). It could have possibly opened up when Sydney was having Pulmonary Hypertension. This collateral is not hurting Syd at this time, or affecting her O2....so we will watch it. The good news is, should it need to be fixed, it can be done through catherization...not another open heart surgery.

Dr F plans to slowly change Sydney's medication. The Viagra will be taken down to 2x a day. We will try this for a month, and see if Syd's O2 sats are effected. If they are not, then Lasix will be removed next. One small baby step at a time. Sydney's body will need to take its own time getting used to the changes.
Well, this is all good news. The vessel development rattled me a bit (I could feel my heart sink), but all in all, she is great. Sydney has grown so much, that she never fell off the growth chart. She made up for the time being sick...in a matter of months. Sydney.....you amaze me!!

Thanks for checking in:) Also, thank you all for the ongoing love and support. So many of you have helped us in so many ways, and I cannot being to express my gratitude towards you all. I have always said, "it takes a village to raise a child,"....so thank you all for being in our village.

Love to you all, Christy