ICU Day 2

1:27 AM: Myla continues to rest in a heavily sedated state--just where they want her for now. Her temperature has remained elevated for most of Saturday (in the 101-102 range), but her vital signs remained stable and her condition showed no signs of worsening. General surgery is still keeping a close eye on the abdominal complications she is showing, but her swollen stomach around the belly button area shows no major signs of getting worse. Melissa had the idea tonight that Myla could have a hernia in the belly button area that has obstructed the flow of her intestines, so we'll have to run that by the medical staff. The blood cultures for two different tests have so far failed to show that Myla has an infection of any sort, so that's good in the sense that she either doesn't have an infection or the infection she has is not particularly aggressive. Because of this, looking into other explanations for her condition makes sense.

For some reason, I found myself bothered by the thought that the medical staff in the ICU had only seen the sick Myla, and not the smiling version that the rest of us see on a daily basis. Then I remembered that I had an extra 8 x 10 photo of this picture of Myla--a picture that now hangs at the head of her hospital bed for all to see. I wish that all sick children had such a picture hanging above their beds as a reminder to doctors and nurses that the child they are working on is not an impersonal blob, but a real person.

Of course, we've spent all our time on the Hematology/Oncology floor at Riley Hospital where the nurses are legendary when it comes to seeing their patients as the little people they are. Christina W. came into work at least an hour before her shift just to visit with us, and she even brought us brownies. Melissa joked with Christina about having her come up to Kokomo to change the dressing on Myla's new central line, and Christina said in all seriousness that she would do it without hesitation if that's what we needed. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I can't tell you the number of times that Audrey has stayed well after her shift had ended to help out with Myla or keep Melissa company. Here's a shot of Audrey after hours--again--holding Myla's hand in ICU. Sally O's comment on yesterday's blog entry is also typical of her and the encouragement she has given to us, and as you can see in the picture, she has taken time to help Raul Matthew through Myla's treatments. Erin, as with all the nurses we've had in HEMOC, was impressively competent when it came to handling Myla's worsening condition. I was particularly impressed with how she voiced her concerns to the doctors over a procedure she sensed may not have been in Myla's best interest. For me, as a communication professor, that was a lot of fun to watch. Emily also showed up yesterday to share encouragement and show the same concern for Myla that she's had all along. Denise also stayed after her shift and along with Christina W. offered some very helpful insights when Melissa and I were struggling to figure out how to proceed with our consent of Myla's central line surgery. We also weren't surprised to find that Stacy, Marian, and even Larissa from the Riley Outpatient Clinic who loathes seeing me with my camera but if you know what you are looking for you can find her among my pictures--even she was there to offer support. And once we got to the ICU, Denise told us that our new nurse, Lisa, is as good as they come, and she wasn't exaggerating. On Lisa's name badge is a small pair of red shoes that indicates that she has received the Red Shoes Award that Riley give for patient care that goes well beyond what's required or even expected. It didn't take long to figure out why she would have won that award, and I have often thought of how many of the nurses on the 5th floor are worthy of this type of award. Unfortunately, schedules didn't allow us to see all of our regular nurses, but their kindness and concern has been a major encouragement to us all. Christina A. included snacks for us on her personal grocery shopping list and brought those to us during our first week at Riley--a very nice gesture! Melissa and Julie combined to take the nursing profession to the next level, and Verity, who had just left to pursue new challenges after spending years on the floor was also a source of great encouragement. When I started this paragraph, I had no intentions of rolling out an Academy Awards type of thank you speech, but there are many other people that we could mention as well ranging from the cleaning staff to the doctors to the staff at Child Life services. Melissa's parents were also a huge help in keeping Raul Matthew occupied during a hectic and stressful day at the hospital.

Similarly related, thanks so much again for all of you who have posted encouraging comments to the blog during the last couple of days. I can't tell you how much it means to us to know that you all are concerned and praying. Of course, we already knew that you were, but it was especially meaningful to hear from many of you when we most needed the encouragement.

I want to close by announcing a formal end to the excitement we've had during the last couple of days. The format of this blog will now return to routine and somewhat boring blog entries with the understanding that "boring is good."