Aria MacDonald

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A mixed day at the races

10 Mar at 9:24 pm by Hamish MacDonald

Aria had her second day of sprints today. She had mixed results.

The first attempt we had this morning did not go particularly well. They let her initiate the breaths herself but Aria decided not to breathe. After trying to prompt her to breathe and giving her some support it was decided that she needed to go back onto the vent which was a little discouraging to see. The theory that was floated is that some medication she received prior to the sprints starting may have left her too sedated to get going with her breaths.

This afternoon however we went for heat two and results were better. Initially Aria responded quite similarly to this morning, not initiating breaths. The respiratory nurse put her back on the machine to get Aria oxygen levels back up and we discussed why she wasn’t do as well today when she did great yesterday. While we talked the respiratory nurse took the support away again and Aria kicked into gear slowly but surely and went for the full 90 minutes she was scheduled for, YAY Aria. We only had one little patch where she stopped breathing when the nurses were checking her vitals. We came to the conclusion that when she gets ‘messed’ with she holds her breath and forgets to kick into gear again. I guess when you have been breathed for, or at least got a lot of help with your breathing your body might forget how to do it by itself.

In other news regarding Aria, the contrast study wasn’t quite as successful as we initially hoped. None of the contrast was going down her bowel, it was all leaking out from a spot they can’t operate on. Good news is that the drains she has in place cleared the majority of this from her abdomen, bad news is that it means intestinal feeds are on hold for a while. Seriously it feels like, one step forward, two back, two forward, one back….

As always, your continued prayers are coveted and appreciated.

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