Day 23

The CT scan didn't show any signs of infection, which is good, but also means we are still at a loss to know what made Hailey so sick the other day.  She obviously has some reason for going into presumed septic shock, but we still can't figure out what that is.

She is looking a little better today. She was able to go down on some of her ventilator (breathing tube) setttings. They did find a small amount of bacteria in her lungs but not enough to have caused such a drastic reaction. They are going to do a spinal tap today to check for meningitis. They have been checking her heart by echo and everything looks okay so far. They are talking about doing a heart cath next week if she doesn't start looking better by then. 

The spinal tap will be relatively low-risk, so that may give us some answers. Another possible thought is that some type of bacteria that people can get when they have some kind of hardware in their body (Hailey has wires in her sternum from heart surgery) might be what caused her illness. The doctor told us this morning that those kinds of bacteria are difficult to detect because they don't grow well in cultures. They are calling in an Infectious Disease team to look at Hailey and give them an opinion. 

We had a lovely Thanksgiving Day yesterday. The hosptial gave us free vouchers for a Thanksgiving-type meal in the cafeteria, which we did for lunch. We watched some Christmas movies, made crafts, and played games in the game room in the Ronald McDonald House. The girls had a lot of fun playing foosball with us there. We spent a fair amount of time at the hospital because Hailey kept having little episodes where her oxygen saturations would drop, but we later figured out that she just wasn't sedated enough and was crying. That made her hold her breath against the ventilator and of course she doesn't get good oxygen when she holds her breath. They upped her sedation a little and that helped significantly.  A family came to the Ronald McDonald House and served a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner!!! It was so nice! They had homemade mashed potatoes, ham, turkey, green bean casserole, rolls, and pie. It was so delicious! 

I meant to take a picture of Hailey this morning while I was at the hospital but I started talking to the doctors and forgot, so I will post one later.

I had a wonderful visit with Sister Hays and her daughter from our ward in Idaho Falls. They came and brought an amazing care package brim full of things to keep us occupied in the hospital and treats and cards and gifts. It was such a wonderful treat! The nurses even commented on what a great care package it was and how neat it was to have such support from people to help us out. I couldn't agree more! We have had an outpouring of love and support from all of you over and over. It is humbling and inspiring! 

Here are some pictures from our wonderful Thanksgiving feast.