Great news! Less than 48 hours after surgery Shirley's chest was closed! She is now officially a part of the "Zipper Club." The surgeon had prepared us for 4 to 5 days of her with an open chest but due to her swelling dispersing quickly they were able to sew her up around 11am this morning! Her next big hurdle will be coming off the ventilator. She is currently intubated through her nasal passage in order to provide mechanical ventilation. In short she is hooked up to a machine that breathes for her. In her case, however, its simply used as a backup for her own respiration. She has consistently exceeded the minimum respiration rate (RR) that the machine is calibrated to. Its kind of like a pacemaker if she falls under the set RR then the machine will take a breath for her. Hopefully it will come out soon! Please keep praying.
Hopefully everything keeps going according to plan and she will be on her way out the door of the hospital in no time. Well, not no time, but maybe a couple weeks!
We were fortunate to have our pastor and intern pastor show up and visit us today with encouraging words from our church community and to pray for our family! Grandma Anne stopped by after an appointment in Seattle, unfortunately none of the visitors were able to see little Shirley due to her procedure but we appreciated the company.
Here is a picture of Shirley shortly after her chest was closed.
-Joseph
