Riley Day 2
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Riley Herman
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Riley Herman
How is our Riley girl? She's progressing well, but all of the first few days stuff sounds really scary.
Warning: Some details are more than you might want to know
After her surgery, it was decided it was best that they keep her incision open for now. This is because it is her third heart surgery, and sometimes the tissue swells for the first few days. Because of this swelling, the sternum can actually become too heavy and hurt the heart if applied before the swelling is reduced. The incision is dressed, so nothing graphic is seen, however, you can see the heartbeats through the dressing. I, personally, find it fascinating! Kyle, however, tries hard not to pass out.
This brings the question- when are they going to close her chest? Today, one of Riley's goals were to get the excess fluid from the medication out (aka pee). At first, they were concerned, but then she was able to get a lot of the fluid out, and she looked a lot less puffy than when we arrived.
Another factor is how much drainage (excess blood) continues to drain. She did have a lot of drainage, but it also depends on if the swelling is going down.
One thing that might have helped with that is that Riley did have a fever today. This is normal because of the mix of medications she is on (its a common side effect). Since her fever did not go down from last night, they put her on a cooling blanket. Her fever went down to normal, and we're hoping the coolness helped with the swelling! While they might close the incision tomorrow, it depends on how she does tonight. The last I spoke with her night nurse, she does have a fever again, so they are trying to figure out why her fever is coming back.
Just keep praying for our Riley girl! We're hoping she can come out of her sedation a little more tomorrow, but that depends on her incision as well as if she can graduate from the breathing tube. It's still early, so we're thankful that all of the hurdles she has to face are typical for the type of surgery she had.
Her brothers were with us at the hospital today, so she appreciated hearing our voices as we talked to her and read her stories. She opened her eyes a few times, and at one point she squeezed William's finger. We're going to start the morning with some outside time with the boys in Philly before we go back to the hospital, which I think we all need already. We've either been at the hospital or hotel rooms (we're in a different hotel tonight), and we might need to start commuting from home if we can't get a space at PRMH (they currently have a lot of families and a waiting list). We're just playing day by day at this point, so we'll see what tomorrow brings!
On a positive note, the picture is of Riley's O2 stats. She's NEVER been 100% oxygen before!!! It stayed between 100 and 96 today- what a blessing!!!!
Warning: Some details are more than you might want to know
After her surgery, it was decided it was best that they keep her incision open for now. This is because it is her third heart surgery, and sometimes the tissue swells for the first few days. Because of this swelling, the sternum can actually become too heavy and hurt the heart if applied before the swelling is reduced. The incision is dressed, so nothing graphic is seen, however, you can see the heartbeats through the dressing. I, personally, find it fascinating! Kyle, however, tries hard not to pass out.
This brings the question- when are they going to close her chest? Today, one of Riley's goals were to get the excess fluid from the medication out (aka pee). At first, they were concerned, but then she was able to get a lot of the fluid out, and she looked a lot less puffy than when we arrived.
Another factor is how much drainage (excess blood) continues to drain. She did have a lot of drainage, but it also depends on if the swelling is going down.
One thing that might have helped with that is that Riley did have a fever today. This is normal because of the mix of medications she is on (its a common side effect). Since her fever did not go down from last night, they put her on a cooling blanket. Her fever went down to normal, and we're hoping the coolness helped with the swelling! While they might close the incision tomorrow, it depends on how she does tonight. The last I spoke with her night nurse, she does have a fever again, so they are trying to figure out why her fever is coming back.
Just keep praying for our Riley girl! We're hoping she can come out of her sedation a little more tomorrow, but that depends on her incision as well as if she can graduate from the breathing tube. It's still early, so we're thankful that all of the hurdles she has to face are typical for the type of surgery she had.
Her brothers were with us at the hospital today, so she appreciated hearing our voices as we talked to her and read her stories. She opened her eyes a few times, and at one point she squeezed William's finger. We're going to start the morning with some outside time with the boys in Philly before we go back to the hospital, which I think we all need already. We've either been at the hospital or hotel rooms (we're in a different hotel tonight), and we might need to start commuting from home if we can't get a space at PRMH (they currently have a lot of families and a waiting list). We're just playing day by day at this point, so we'll see what tomorrow brings!
On a positive note, the picture is of Riley's O2 stats. She's NEVER been 100% oxygen before!!! It stayed between 100 and 96 today- what a blessing!!!!
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Thomas Helinsky