day 5

Dear Mommy...

We love you! Fight, Fight, Fight!!! We miss you so much.

Love,

Gracie and Roxy

We are calling today "cautiously optimistic". Sarah had a good night. Her intensivist for the night (Felix) decided to try something to get her oxygen weaned. He increased her PEEP from 13 to 15. Her lung compliance and peak pressures were okay and he felt her lungs could handle it. His goal was to get her FiO2 down to 65% by morning. Mom, Dad, Jimi, and I said goodnight to Sar and headed home praying, praying, praying this would work. We all ended our fast last night and went to bed thinking of our sleeping beauty.

Jimi and I got to the hospital around 0830. We first saw Crystal, Sarah's RT. She was happy to tell us that they were able to wean her FiO2 to 60% (Sarah has always been an overachiever and she is keeping up that reputation now. We are so proud!). Her PEEP was still at 15. Her peak pressure and compliance pressures were also still doing well...she was handling the increase of PEEP.

We then went into Sarah's room and got to talk to her nurse, Lori. Lori also had Sarah yesterday so it was nice to have some continuity of care and see a familiar face. Since she hasn't had a fever for 2 days, she is off isolation. We are able to go into her room and not have to gown, glove, and put on masks. It was so nice for Jimi and I to just sit by her and hold her hands and really feel her. The first thing we noticed was how warm her hands and feet were. Lori was able to wean down her Levophed (Norepinephrine) because her body was better able to keep her blood pressure up on it's own. As a result of the better perfusion, her hands and feet were warm instead of being cool, which they had been since she got to ICU. This was another thing to be very grateful for.

Sarah was repositioned when Jimi and I were at her bedside. I cringed inside...this has been so hard on her. Well, they were able to put her on her side while they propped up the pillows and her sats went down to 86...not in the 40's like before. I loved seeing that 86%! She came back up to mid 90's in less than 5 minutes. That was another little thing that again we were so happy to see.

In rounds, Dr. Hoffman showed us Sarah's x-ray this morning. It looked about the same as yesterday....had not improved, but it also wasn't any worse. Of course we would like to see some improvement, but the fact that it wasn't worse was good news to us. Because of still be afebrile, it looks like she is responding to the anti-viral. Her WBC (white blood count) was very low when she was admitted and was like that for the last several days. This is very bad because it basically is saying that her body is so stressed from the virus and not able to fight it off with her white blood cells. Today it went up and into the normal range.

She seemed to be a little too sedated and so her propofol infusion was stopped. You all know propofol...the Michael Jackson drug. They also wanted to try some breathing treatments...aerosol inhaled medicines that help the alveoli to open up more to see how that could also help the picture so that was started today.

They also weren't able to make her feeding tube an NJ because they weren't able to roll her on her side to help the tube get into her small intestine, but today they could and got it in her jejunum. This is where you want it so she won't throw up (an aspiration would be very bad). Jimi said that on x-ray the tube made a little "S" where it is in her stomach. He and Lori laughed about that...a little monogrammed feeding tube just for Sarah to show up on her x-rays every morning!

Jimi's older brother, Steve, flew in from St. Louis this morning. Steve is an ICU nurse of 18 years...he knows way more about all this ICU stuff than I do. It's so great to have another person to see Sarah's condition and ask important questions. Steve is another great advocate for Sarah.

So, the plan for the day was to continue to try to decrease her FiO2 and see how that went. They were able to get her down to 50% when I left tonight. She is also off her Leophed! In fact she went a little hypertensive, so they increased her Ativan a little. Felix wanted to also try decreasing her PEEP to 12 and seeing how she tolerated that. He also wanted to back off on her Rocuronium. Those are the plans for the night.

We all want to jump for joy...but can't yet. She still isn't out of the woods and is still so sick. However, we are so very grateful for the day she had. Every little improvement is a step in the right direction. You rock Sar. We are so proud of you and the fighter that you are.

Thank you again for all your prayers, for fasting for Sarah, and keeping her in your thoughts. I went into the chapel right by the ICU yesterday and I felt so much strength when I prayed. I don't think I have ever offered such fervent prayers in my whole life.

Thanks also to amazing friends and family for all their support. Thank you Sue and Danny for visiting. Thank you Adam and Lisa for being the best friends ever and for bringing bagels and Lisa's famous homemade beef jerky! Thank you Liz for bringing pizzas over to the house for the family. Thank you to Steve and Mark for being there for Jimi and all you do. Thank you to my West Jordan girlfriends for a fun lunch date and helping me laugh, talk, and cry.

What wonderful people we are surrounded by. We always knew we had an amazing family and the best of friends. It is so comforting to have you all in our lives. Thank you doesn't seem sufficient, but please accept it on behalf of all us Wadman's and Jarman's.