Good afternoon,
Ruby has been having a good day today. Last night her oxygen saturation was between 97-100% and today it has been 95-98% most of the time. They also changed the ventilator settings from PRVC to "SIMV (PRVC) + PS" which I interpret as fully ventilated to a mode that allows her to control the rate of breathing, but with a minimum set. It's a good sign I think. The doctor also mentioned to us this morning that her lung pressure has been a bit lower since yesterday (24-26ish before and now 20-22ish) so they reduced the PEEP (Positive end-expiratory pressure) to 11 (was 12, it means she needs less pressure to keep her lungs expanded, I think). This is also something we want to see.
Ruby has been peeing more since last evening. The doctor told us earlier this afternoon that she was negative 200ish ml of fluid. That hasn't happened for a while and there was no increase on her diuretics (we weren't pushing her to pee). Her bloodwork shows that her kidneys are getting happier, so they have added another diuretic to the mix. She still has a lot of fluid in her lungs and a lot of edema that she needs to get rid of. But happier kidneys could be a sign of better flow through the left side of the heart which could be a sign of the left side relaxing.
Nothing is certain. These are all small things trending in a good direction, but this experience has taught us that things can take a turn at any moment. So we keep praying. We keep holding her (it helps her lungs and she gets good naps). We keep trying to hold on to hope. The doctors are keeping us grounded, we know this doesn't mean she is guaranteed to get better. There is still an unfortunately likely chance she doesn't make it through this. So we pray.
