6.18.21 Spinal Fusion Day 4

The really good and most important news is that Aimee is doing amazing this morning. She is alert, currently off of bipap, comfortable. 

The bad news is that we were pushed out of the ICU in the middle of the night. It’s okay, but wasn’t great timing for Aimee. We had been told at rounds in the morning and again in the afternoon 1-3 more days and we would move to the floor. We were getting close, but hadn’t quite reached respiratory baseline and that was our goal before being moved. However, apparently there were no free PICU beds in the state of Washington and they needed to have a certain percentage cleared out. We fell into that percentage and couldn’t wait to be moved til morning. Frustrating, but even more so because Aimee was already settled into her bipap in a deep sleep. Her bipap doesn’t have a battery so she had to be taken off it to move through the hospital. Really it was not the best patient care as she had to be stimulated to keep breathing and she was super shallow. Now she is stable and well, but I feel upset. We didn’t really have a choice, but I wish I had pushed back more for Aimee’s sake. Maybe we could have taken more time to get her transitioned to one of their vents for the transfer at the very least. 

Anyways, it was a disappointment to be taken so dramatically from full one on one nursing care in the ICU to being stuck in this new room with us doing all care and little nursing support. The real point is that Aimee is safe, she is not being left without care, she is making amazing progress. 

She had the deeper of the two drains removed this morning and the superficial one should be removed tomorrow with her first dressing change. Our plan for today is to continue to work towards time off bipap, to add in a bit more food, and to increase her tolerance of greater inclines in bed toward the goal of sitting in her wheelchair in a couple days. 

We’re wearing our Aimee shirts and are so grateful to be here with our girl.