So Haven’s belly just keeps getting in the way of her lungs.  We had an episode much like we had the other day when her abdomen was so distended that it caused her some breathing distress, so today we had to readjust some of the ventilator settings to help her cope with that.  But, just like the other day, once she got rid of some of that air that’s trapped in there, she was fine and we were then able to come back down on the ventilator settings to where she had been previously.  Read the rest of this entry »

Haven had a much better night last night.  It appears that the respiratory problems she was having were related to some issues she is having in her abdominal area.  The difficulty lies in the fact that we don’t really know what the problem is, but what appears to have happened is that something had caused her abdominal area to become very distended (expanded and hard). Read the rest of this entry »

Haven has been working real hard today to try and keep getting better.  This afternoon she started having some respiratory issues, so we’ve had to go back up considerably on the ventilator support.  The reason for her struggles this afternoon is still unknown, but we’re trying hard to figure it out for her.  We have a feeling that something isn’t quite right with her body in terms of managing her fluids.  Read the rest of this entry »

So Haven’s goals for this week have been to wean off the ventilator support and shed unnecessary fluid in her tissues.  (You may have noticed from her most recent pics that she is a bit on the puffy side again).  She has been doing a decent job with both of those…until mid-day today.  We noticed that though she was sleeping like a rock, her heart rate was a little high and unchanging.  As an experiment, we decided to try to wake her up a bit in hopes that her heart rate would increase.  No such luck.  After we had her moving around and worked up, her heart rate remained unchanged.  Well, we’ve all seen this before…several times.  Read the rest of this entry »

Many have inquired as to the true colors of Haven. I thought it wise to clear the air once and for all so that you all know what crayon to use on your pictures of her.

For the final say, Mom & Dad will have to comment on this later, but as to my multiple trips down to the ICU and having seen her cute little eyes in person here is my description:

Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Cheeks: Chubby pink

Some of the pictures make Haven look as if she has red hair and brown eyes. This is because the hospital room is dark when the pictures are taken. When I lighten them up so that you can see her better I lose some of the color in her eyes and the pinkish skin shines through her brown hair making it look red.

If you look closely at the latest picture of Haven sitting up it looks like she has red eyes. In reality she has blue eyes. I will try to fix this later.

Thank you Sierra, for finally pointing out the white elephant in the room…
(No, that isn’t a joke about Haven)

…posted in the picture section. Check them out and leave your comments on this post!

No one is so skilled at tube handling than my niece.

Jeremey and Alison said there was not much exciting going on today, and they could not get to a computer, so they will post again tomorrow.

Thanks for continuing to check the blog!

The docs decided to remove the last of Haven’s chest tubes today, so she is now officially chest-tubeless.  We’re still not out of the clear totally: we can’t quite remember, but we think the longest she has gone without chest tubes has been about 48 hours before needing them re-inserted.  We’ll watch the x-rays very closely over the next few days to see if any fluid is accumulating.  Read the rest of this entry »

Haven had a good day today.  We’re still in a bit of a holding pattern until Monday in order to give her chest a chance to dry up.  So, we’re hoping Haven will work on shedding some extra onboard fluids this weekend.  The nurse was able to talk Mom & Dad into taking a little walk this afternoon.  The weather was nice outside.  We are looking forward to spring time and being able to someday take Haven along with us. 

The results are in from Haven’s blood tests regarding her infection:  she has staphylococcus.  You probably are more familiar with “staph infection”.  Unfortunately, they say she has a pretty serious form of it.  We were obviously concerned about how this infection would affect her heart.  The doctors said that the body’s response to it is very individual for each patient.  This gives us all a good explanation for the blood pressure issues she was having earlier this week.  Read the rest of this entry »

Haven’s blood cultures came back positive yesterday.  This means that she does have an infection, so she is getting lots of antibiotics to aid in fighting it.  As you know, Haven has had an elevated white blood cell count several times in the past, but the cultures always came back negative indicating that there was no infection or bacterial growth.  Read the rest of this entry »