Perseverance

She's a fighter by nature, brave, and has high standards for herself.  Today was a big day for her already by noon.  After a good night of getting some rest and trying to fine tune the balance between her meds and her heart rate and blood pressure, she was excited to be able to at least sit in a chair today.  After 30 minutes or more of getting her various tubes and attachments situated, she sat in the chair for more than an hour.  It eased the pain she was having from being in bed for so long.  She really wanted to get up and try to walk.  We got so far as to have her stand for a few seconds, leaning on Phillip's leg, then sitting on the knees of Phillip and her nurse.

This girl is full of determination and perseverance, both of which have served her well, especially when it comes to her health.  She has remained mostly calm throughout it all.  When given a bottle of bubbles to practice blowing (in order to begin strengthening her lungs) yesterday, she blew for half an hour!  She wanted to keep going.  It was because she knew that it would help her get one step closer to going home.

She has come off of many of the meds that interfere with regular heart rates and blood pressures.  She is still using the pacemaker, but her heart rate is overriding it much of the time, which is good.  Her chest drainage is looking great and slowing down, and getting her upright and walking (and eventually eating), will increase the output from the three drainage tubes.  Her pain is being managed just fine and she's had her Foley (urinary catheter) out.  They won't remove the LA line that goes directly into her heart through her neck until her heart rate is stable on its own.

Please pray for continued drainage away from her chest to look good, for stabilization of her heart rate (on her own without pacemaker) and blood pressure. Please also pray she continues to increase strength in her lungs and her muscles for standing and walking, and that she can be comfortable enough to also get some rest.

We have been so blessed to be able to sleep in her room with her.  We couldn't have imagined that it would happen to work out this way, and we are thankful that His plans are perfect, that He gave us the grace to handle everything one step at a time, and to have this wonderful news at the end of a very long day Tuesday.

Thank you for all the prayers, messages, and pictures of your love and support!  Please keep them coming so each hurdle can be defeated successfully.