ICU Day 3

Myla continues to rest in a sedated state. Her color looks better, and the respiratory therapists have begun the process of weaning her from the ventilator. Her vital signs look good, but she showed signs of being in pain on Sunday night. Her digestive problems don't appear to have worsened, but she is still producing a lot of green bile that is being pumped out of her. One of her doctors proposed that her problem might be a side-effect of 2 of the chemos she has had. Apparently, they can leak through the walls of the intestines, enter the abdominal cavity, and cause an infection that can't be detected in the blood stream, hence explaining why her blood cultures have yet to shows signs of an infection. If this is the case, then the 3 antibiotics Myla is on might be able to fight off this infection in her belly. From what I understand, this stuff would then be reabsorbed into the intestines and passed out of the system from there. The doctor explained that this type of infection could also explain the herniated look of Myla's belly button. So, the big picture is that this infection could be taken care of during the next few days with the antibiotics and the resurgence of Myla's own defense system. She was given another drug to that will cause her white blood cells to reappear earlier than they normally would. The downside is that this could also cause any residual leukemia to also make a faster rebound, though this is unlikely.

It's hard to talk about timetables of when we will get out of ICU and back home to the 5th floor, but making the move by next weekend is a possibility. But first, Myla has to be off both the medicine that is making her heart pump more strongly and the ventilator. It's possible that she could be off the ventilator by Tuesday, and once they have checked that off the list, then they would back off the heart medication. Once this is complete, then they would still keep her another 1-2 days for observation.

Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers and concerns, to Ed and Jenn for offering to bring coffee by the hospital, for Mike for visiting on Saturday, and to Hannah and Jared for visiting Myla and bringing a Build a Bear from concerned members at her church. I'll post pictures tomorrow!

10:07 PM: Today turned out to be a great day overall for Myla! She was taken off the ventilation machine and is now breathing on her own. In fact, things were going so well that I decided to head back to the Ronald McDonald House to do some much overdue grading, when soon thereafter the call came for me to come back to the ICU because Myla was having trouble breathing. The respiratory therapists gave Myla some meds to open up her airways and our nurse for tonight sucked the mucous from Myla's mouth to help her breath better. After the elation of seeing Myla extubated, we faced the possibility of seeing that thing back go in tonight, but so far, the medicines seem to be working and Myla appears to be breathing comfortably again.

And now, for some photos:

1. Myla getting wheeled out for her surgery and Raul Matthew eagerly awaiting her return.
2. Myla after her surgery.
3. Myla today after getting her ventilator tube taken out!
4. The picture of Myla I placed above her bed to remind the medical staff who they are dealing with.
5. Doctors checking on Myla tonight (1 & 2).
6. Raul Matthew "helping" the echocardiogram technician enter data.
7. The bear that Hannah and Jared (shown with Melissa) brought for Myla.
8. A visit on Saturday from "Uncle Mike."
9. Thanks to Stacy for the passes to the Indianapolis Zoo. I took Raul Matthew there on Sunday to get him out of the insanity of the hospital environment, and he got out his energy in the butterfly display at the White River State Park conservatory. Memorable animals included a lion, lioness, zebra, dolphins, blue butterfly, orange butterfly, rhinos, emu, rabbit, and an ear. Let's make that 2 ears.

Thanks again to all of you for your continued prayers and support. Melissa and I see God's hand in the events of the last few days. If you think about it, had Myla not run such a high fever, they would not have taken the chest x-ray that revealed the imminent danger posed by her old central line.

There is talk of Myla leaving the ICU within the next couple of days. Of course, that's just talk, but it's good-sounding talk to us. Myla's primary doctor was elated at Myla's condition today. Seeing her excitement was encouraging to us.

11:02 PM: Right before Raul Matthew and I left for the Ronald McDonald House, Myla opened her eyes and looked around the room in earnest for the first time. She also responded to Raul Matthew's voice as he said goodnight to her. I'm hoping to capture a smile from her tomorrow. :)