Next 48 Hours Still Critical for Our Sweetheart

Here is our beautiful daughter having fun in the snow. God how we love her and pray she makes it through this critical time.

We have been told that the next 48 hours will have to be taken hour by hour in Brianna's recovery from yesterday's cardiac arrest. I learned that they had to apply chest compression on her heart for 30 minutes in order to keep it going, while the extra chest tubes were inserted to reduce the pressure build up. The reason for the arrest was that the pressure inside her chest made it impossible for her heart to beat against that pressure. But in the process her heart has sustained some damage. It will heal. But just like any part of the body, the bruise will take time to heal. The height of the bruising will be tonight, which means the heart will be its weakest.

So last night Brianna held her blood pressure okay. She is still on an epinephrine drip in order to help her heart beat. But this afternoon, I was in her room and the oscillating ventilator alarm went off. Brianna began to cough and move and the oscialltor is so senstive it almost shut off. This started her blood pressures her heart rate and to drop. They had to push more epinephrine and her blood pressures came back. Her heart had not stopped, it just took a dip.

The doctors have told us that she is on close to the maximum amount of epi she can be on, plus they are giving her extra doses to stablize her blood pressures. They have told us they are very concerned about the trend of her needing more epi right now, rather than less. They also called Jim to tell him he should be here tonight.

She needed "volume," as in fluid to give her heart enough to pump the oxygen through her system. She has been given many units of platelets, packed red blood cells, albumin and other products in order to maintain a higher venus pressure allowing her heart to beat easier.

The doctors also told us that the new chest tube insertions were not done under the most sterile conditions because of the urgency. So any bacteria introduced may peak tonight. Already she's had a fever today. They've taken her off the Linazolid and put her on vancomyecin and meropenum. And, because she needs so many medications, they needed to add another central line. This one was put in her groin and has three leumens, which adds to her already existing two other deep-vein lines.

In our care conference today, the doctors told us that the next day or two will tell whether Brianna will make it through this. We won't know anything about her neurological status until she gets past all this and has been weaned again on the ventilator and is able to wake up. Some feel she won't have any, others think Brianna will have some brain damage.

I stand next to her bed and stroke her brow and her head. I also used a wash cloth to clean off the dried, splattered blood on her hands and arms. And, I talk to her and tell her how much we love her and that she needs to continue to fight.

Thankfully, John is with me. My cousin Ogi came this afternoon and was here supporting me during Brianna's crisis today. My parents also are here as well as Trevor. It's finals week at the high school. I can't help but think that Brianna would be celebrating her last day of school tomorrow. Instead, we'll be happy with her making it through the night.

All of your prayers, encouragement and email posts mean so much to us. Thank you all for your continued support, love and hugs. As one of my friends have said, we are in the darkness right now and we pray we will see the light soon.