Saturday May 17, 2008

The girls had both improved from their minor issues yesterday. Both of their lungs look better and Evie’s puffiness has gone down. They were pleasantly resting on their tummies most of the day. We talked with Dr. Hiller who said that they are both doing well; however, Evie’s lungs are not quite as good as Maggie’s. Dr. Hiller didn’t think the corticosteroids were producing quite the effects that she wanted with Maggie either. However, by the end of the day, Maggie was making great progress on her ventilator needs. Her minimum breaths per minute was down to 35, her pressure was down, and her oxygen percentage was under 30% (21% is room air). Also, Maggie had great blood gases with her CO2 levels down. So, the corticosteroids seem to be helping by the end of the day. Evie’s ventilator pressure had to be increased this morning because her lungs weren’t filling completely. She also has been a bit finicky with her oxygen needs, and her blood gases were not as good. But, Evie doesn’t get the corticosteroids until Wednesday. However, she did resume her eating and had been doing very well with those every 6 hours. Maggie was eating every 3 hours and liking it as well.

It felt like summer in Missoula and the trees were anxious to start unfolding their leaves. We spent the late morning playing miniature golf with the Hoeggers – without enough shade, so we had a bit too much sun. We had a relaxing afternoon chatting and playing with Lynzee and Chloe. The Dads even went into the indoor swimming pool with the girls while the Moms went shopping J Appetizers for dinner and we were all too pooped to do much else. So, Joe and I stopped to say goodnight to our girls and headed for bed.