Still Fighting

It's been another rough week for Brooke. On Tuesday, Brooke started to decline again. Tuesday night at 1:00 am we got a phone call telling us that she was being put back on the oscillator. Not only was Brooke having an extremely difficult time breathing, but her blood pressure was extremely labile (fluctuating between high and low values). She continued to be extremely fragile and sensitive throughout all of Wednesday. The doctors were so worried that they didn't leave her bedside throughout the night and morning. Jason and I stayed both Tuesday and Wednesday night in the hospital.

Brooke is still in critical condition, but is a bit more stable now. She has been paralyzed so that she can't fight against the machine. She is getting a lot of sedatives to help make sure that she is not in pain (and as we know, she likes her drugs!). It is clear that the doctors are still extremely worried about her, but are also thrilled that she is showing small signs of improvement.

The doctor's believe that Brooke has pulmonary hypertension. They believe that this is causing her latest issues. The trouble now is that both her heart and her lungs are having significant problems.

The doctors believe that Brooke needs to be moved to Children's Memorial Hospital in order to have a cardiologist watching her 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, Brooke is not stable enough to travel to Children's. Right now, she is struggling with diaper changes and having her head turned. She needs to be off of the oscillator and back on the traditional ventilator in order to make the trip. Therefore the short term goal is to get her stable enough to go on her first field trip. The doctors are hoping that this Sunday she will be ready to move to the ventilator... so here's to Sunday.