A Long Day

It's 1am and I've just left my baby. It's been a long day.

This morning the consultant cardiologist did an ultrasound on her heart. Because she is hooked up to all these drips, they wheeled the machine into her room so we didn’t have to move her. The MRI scan and chest x-rays yesterday showed that her heart was enlarged and there was something on her lungs. The ultrasound confirmed that there is quite a lot of fluid in both lungs and around the heart. This is apparently another marker that her system is fighting something virulent, along with her extremely elevated white blood cell count. 

Although she rallied yesterday afternoon for an hour or so and sat up and was quite chatty, she was asleep and unresponsive most of today. She vomited a lot this morning and won’t eat, so was on IV fluids. She is being treated with antibiotics for viral meningitis as a precaution. 

This afternoon she deteriorated rapidly and was struggling to breathe. The fluid in her left lung increased. Her temperature suddenly elevated, despite all the medication, as did her blood pressure and heart rate. I called for help and they gave her oxygen and more meds. She was moved to Intensive Care around 7.30pm. She is now more stable and there is a precautionary ventilator next to her bed. She has had local anaesthetic applied to her chest and side in preparation for any emergency drain they might need to do in the night, although they'd like to avoid it so they can do it more easily in theatre tomorrow. It is likely she will be put on a ventilator for a while. She is hooked up to lots of machines and looks very small. They have found me an empty room for tonight, but it is miles from her in the old part of the building next to the offices, but at least there's a bed. They wouldn't let me stay and sleep in the chair next to her. 

It was very hard to leave her. 

We are hugely comforted by all your lovely messages and thoughts. Thank you and keep the Love coming this way.