"We Love Andrea" was created to update Andrea's friends as she went through a difficult journey. After her second heart transplant when her pulse began to speed up she was given a pacemaker, then a Heart Mate II or LVAD. She was in the Stollery Children's Hospital, then the Mazankowski heart unit in Edmonton, Alberta for 7 months. However, she peacefully died on May 11, 2011 when the rest of her heart and other organs could handle the strain no longer. If you come to this blog, pray for her family and friends, remember to tell your friends you love them, then sign your organ donor card.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

still sleeping


Hello Everyone
 
Just left Andrea's bedside, so here goes.  I worry some that i might be repititious, boring, and incoherent.  Maybe it has something to do with a lack of sleep, so please bear with me.  Andrea is still intubated, for those who are blissfully unaware, that means a garden hose size (just about) pipe down the throat past the voicebox hooked up to a ventilation machine which is set to do all breathing for her while under sedation.  After the anesthetic effects  wear off they start reducing the amount the breathing machine does until she is able to breathe on her own.  However, when the kidney and liver functions are impaired, they do not filter the sedation drugs out very fast.  Bear in mind that Andrea also had nearly 12 hours of surgery and a whole night of a fairly high level of sedation.  This morning when we got there she was able to squeeze my hand on command, nod her head yes and no, indicate that her nose itched etc.  She is fairly aware of her surroundings, but drifts in and out of sleep.  Her ventilator is turned down to the point of being nearly able to extubate her, but she is still too weak and drowsy to manage on her own with her breathing.  Around noon she developed a nose bleed, so they packed her one nostril, it did not stop it, so tonight an ear nose and throat specialist was coming to see her.  They started an IV blood transfusion just before we left.  This morning though, we could see an improvement in her skin color and the whites of her eyes were not as yellow as they had been.  Hopefully tomorrow she will feel better and she can be extubated, it was one thing she dreaded very much.  So long for now.
 
Regards, Maynard and Faye 

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