Good news and bad news...
Good news is that Kate is still stable.
Bad news is that they haven't found a great way to get all her meds into her. Basically, they are going to have to infuse some of them faster, stop, change over to the other ones, infuse them faster, etc. They will be switching back and forth between the meds. If that doesn't work, they will have to do a third port in her central line. They do not want to do that because she would need to be heavily sedated for that procedure, which would necessitate being put back on the ventilator with a breathing tube down her throat again. Putting her back on the ventilator puts her right back where she started on Monday, so they really want to avoid that.
Second bad news item...she is still dumping more fluid than normal. Everything they put in leaks out of the vessels, goes into the tissues and drains out the chest tubes. The doctor told me this morning that they expect this to go on for WEEKS. He said if it only ends up being two weeks...great. But he expects it to go on much longer than that. She cannot go home until she stops draining.
She had another effusion last night (where the fluid didn't drain properly and got stuck in her chest cavity). They got another 250cc's out of her chest a little while ago. The doctor was not real happy.
She looks pitiful, but she is stable and I am very thankful for that. I have succumbed to the cold that was coming on...grrrr... I'm hoping it doesn't get too bad.
Despite this not-so-good news, we are thankful that she is stable and in good hands. Thank you so much for your prayers and notes of encouragement. You have no idea how uplifting it is to get your emails.
