Slow Mover

Yesterday Hope went for a PICC line.  There were mixed opinions on whether or not this was even possible.  We knew that a PICC line in Hope's arms was not a possibility, but we had yet to investigate her legs.  After 2 hours, we were told that miraculously they were able to get a PICC in Hope's left leg.  We need people to pray against clotting, as this is not the best thing for Hope with all her clotting issues.  We were waiting in the recovery area for Hope to return, but didn't see her.  We were then told that Hope was not stable and that they had moved her to another recovery area and we needed to go and wait in her room.  Once upstairs, the doctor came in to say that Hope was indeed not stable but they weren't sure how bad it was.  We sat in Hope's room praying that God would spare her life.  I thought about snuggling her all morning and Shawn being there to hold her as well.  I wondered if God had allowed Shawn to be there because it was going to be her last day.  My heart was breaking, and yet I was holding onto hope that my Hope would return.

After an hour we were told that Hope had stabilized and they were finally able to wake her up and extubate her.  We waited anxiously for them to bring Hope back upstairs so we could hold our precious girl.  My heart leapt out of my chest as they rolled her in on the stretcher.  My love was back and was still alive!  Hope had a reaction to the anesthetic again and was tomato red for 6 hours.  This was minor in comparison to what we'd already been through.

This morning they took Hope down at 8:30am for a small bowel follow through test.  They put a contrast dye into Hope's feeding tube and began taking x-rays to track its progress through her bowel.  They took x-rays on and off for 12 hours.  Clearly things were not moving through as well as they were supposed to.  We missed the radiologist and won't receive results until tomorrow, but are praying they've found something they're able to treat medically.  This explains a lot of the swelling in Hope's abdomen.  Each time we fed her, the food was simply collecting in her tummy and taking hours to move through.  Eventually, her stomach would be so full of food, she would throw up.

We are thankful it's the weekend and thankful my mom has returned to help us out.  We have much to praise God for today, sweet Hope is alive and we're thinking they will find something in the test they've done today.  We continue to pray that a miracle happens in Hope's life.  We have to hold onto hope that she may live.