No Pulmonary Hypertension

An echocardiogram (not sure if that is how it is spelled) revealed that pulmonary hypertension, which Piper has historically suffered from, is not playing a factor in what is going on currently. In other words, the results revealed nothing abnormal with her heart, that the doctor believed wasn’t being caused by her pneumonia.  So, that is kind of good news. It is still tough to say if she is making any headway against the pneumonia. There have been a few indicators that suggest she is. One, is that her blood-gas tests have been making slow improvement. Is also seems like she has been a little big stronger.

The part about he feeling a little stronger is kind of a tough one, though. Since they have discontinued the paralytic, Piper can now move her hands and feet, when she is awake. She currently has to be restrained because of the amount of  lines that she is hooked up to. It could be pretty disastrous if she were to, for example pull out her arterial line or central line. As a result, she gets very frustrated when she is awake, which causes her to de-sat etc.. The only way to calm her down is to further sedate her. It is a frustrating cycle to watch. Hopefully she will start making some significant headway against the pneumonia and will not require as much support, so they can remove some of the more invasive lines.

Again, we are so grateful to everyone who has extended their support. We take a lot of comfort in the fact that Piper is so well loved and cared about. Thank you so much for all of the kindness.