December 20th: Emmy had more respiratory struggles overnight. In the early morning, the doctor decided to start her on C-pap to see if continuous therapy would improve her lung expansion. Emersyn fought the C-pap the entire time, her respiratory rate went up into the 120s and her retractions worsened from the stress. She didn't stay on the machine long before they decided to discontinue it and put her back on the EZ-pap every 2hrs. Dr Nigro came just before morning rounds and ordered another ECHO to check heart function. The ECHO showed that she was having increased pressure in her right ventricle so she was started on a new medication to decrease that pressure.
Emmy's daily chest x-ray showed the pleural effusion on the right side had worsened overnight so another chest ultrasound was ordered to get a more accurate picture of fluid volume and location. The doctor felt that it was a significant amount and notified me that another chest tube was necessary to drain it. I couldn't believe it...she just seemed to keep getting worse and I was getting very disheartened.
Evening update: I think we've turned a corner (knock on wood)! The second chest tube may have been exactly what she needed to clear the fluid in the lungs and allow her to finally make some headway as far as her respiratory status. Her chest tubes have drained a total of almost 300cc off her lungs. Poor baby probably felt like she was drowning before they were placed...no wonder she was having respiratory distress! She seems much more comfortable now- her respiratory rate has slowed and she has definitely had a drastic decrease in her work of breathing. I feel like we will finally be able to make some forward strides now that the source of her respiratory issues has been diagnosed and appropriately treated. I'm feeling very thankful tonight for this forward progress:)
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