What a whirlwind day: family and friends mobilizing to help and reach out. Thank you all for your goodwill and support of Nicole! Prayers and good wishes for Nicole are coming from all points of the compass. Our parish got the word as well, and a Mass was said for Nicole today, Nicole's youth group was notified and rallied to pray as they met this evening, and our pastor will be coming to provide Anointing of the Sick. Thank you to all who were able to stop by.
Nicole was transferred off the Pediatric ICU today, into the Cardiac ICU. Here is her entourage heading down the hall with her tower of med pumps and miles of tubing trailing alongside.
The treatment team has been adjusting both the medications for Nicole's arrhythmia and to better manage her blood pressure. They also have pulled her temp down to the target 33C; that feels so cold. One concern is that she may have had a viral infection of the tissue surrounding her heart which could have caused the cardiac arrest. Although the viral studies have not all come back, the treatment team is giving her a medication that helps her heart fight any infection.
It certainly seems Nicole can hear us and the treatment team talk to her; they have us rub her hand or feet which seems to calm her during procedures. Her blood pressure seems to spike at times, and then when we talk to her and rub her hand or foot it goes down.
The treatment team has pointed out some encouraging points regarding Nicole's neurological signs. She has good reaction to light in both pupils now, and before she was so heavily sedated she responded to pain from her procedures in the Emergency Rooms. She also coughed when the trach tube was moved, and tried to breath spontaneously at the first Emergency Room when she was being stabilized. They tell us that gives encouragement for the time when she will be warmed up and sedation reduced in a couple days.
I had time to run out and take a little time with Nicole's sister, Alexandra. She is being a real trooper. She understands more about the cardiac situation than most should at her age. She had been joining Nicole for her cardiac followups and having her own cardiac workup with the same doctor to rule out a similar disorder. Just 3 weeks prior Alexandra had received the news her heart is just fine.
We have settled in for a night of waiting and watching.
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