The day started so hopeful and optimistic. Alexandra slept through most of the night for the first time since surgery, which meant I even got a decent amount of sleep. While she refused to walk to the playroom for music group, as soon as we got her down there and out of her wagon, she immediately walked over to the chair she wanted. Later, she even suggested walking back to the playroom and, with a big smile on her face, called out to all the nurses and anyone else around “Look at me; I’m walking!”
She had a more extensive x-ray with two different views so they could get a better look at the effusions. The good news is that the one side showed some improvement with the other side about the same. However, there was some indecision as to whether one section was more pleural effusions or fluid in the pericardial sac, so an echo was ordered. The echo showed that the fluid was definitely in the pericardial sac. We should find out tomorrow if they are going to let it be for now to see if the diuretics will work, shift the existing chest tube or if they will go directly into the pericardial sac to drain the fluid. Naturally, this is not what we wanted to hear. Based on how she has been acting and walking around, we really thought things were improving a great deal. It is disappointing that it is not.
To compound our disappointment is the fact that one family went home today after having the same surgery last Thursday, and another family is being discharged tomorrow after having surgery last Friday. Here we are at over two weeks with no end in sight, and they are fortunate enough to be out of here in a week! Of course, I’m happy for them, but it doesn’t change the fact that I am sad we’re still going to be around for a while. I also have to remind myself that we have met and certainly seen others around here that have been here much longer and that however long we are here, our stay will come to an end.