Out of the ICU

Zoe got out of the icu today which is always a good sign, even though we prefer the solitude up there compared to the peds unit..."crazy town." Her heart rate has come down tremendously, 100-110/min down from 170+/min. Her transfusion and albumen (a substance that replaces protein in the blood) treatments have perked her up a lot. She is still retaining lots of fluids, but the docs are watching her levels pretty closely. We're still not sure where she stands with the C Dif., her belly is still distended, but the docs are comforted by the fact that her tummy is gurgling, relatively soft, and she's tolerating her feeding for the most part.

A ct scan last night came back looking good this morning. Dr. Sekhar thinks that the infection in her neck looks good right now, but we'll be doing another scan early next week to check again. Another surgery to clean out the infection may still need to happen.

While I was sitting in the ICU waiting room today eating some breakfast (we don't eat in front of Zoe because she can't eat), I heard a man say that there is no way he can stay here at the hospital with his son for more than two weeks or he'll lose his mind. In the beginning I felt the same way, but amazingly we've adapted to this environment. It was so hard coming back here after having a taste of home and getting into the mind set of being done with this part of the journey. It took a couple of days, but we've slipped right back into the space we were in when we had no idea when we would be taking Zoe home. We're going to be OK. So will Zoe. She's sad right now, but coping pretty well. I've been so worried about her emotional state, but I'm reassured by her smiles today. She is so amazingly strong...I'm convinced that she can do anything.

Try to keep you informed, and thanks to everyone for your love, comments, financial help...everything.

Colleen