Another rollercoaster day

After a stable night, it looked as though we were going to be heading back up to Ocean Ward again. However, one of her chest drains was sounding quite noisy and on closer examination the hole where the chest drain was inserted had got a bit bigger and the team thought that this drain was probably sucking air in and out and causing air to get into the lung cavity. They decided that as there was no more fluid draining, it was probably best to remove the chest drains.

We got to have a few cuddles whilst we were waiting for the doctors to come and remove the chest drains which eventually happened in the early evening. Jessica was still having to work hard with her breathing afterwards, needing increasing amounts of oxygen to maintain her saturations. A chest X-ray showed that she had another pneumothorax (air in the lung cavity) – this time there was a significant pocket of air around her right lung and a smaller one in the left side.

The team decided that they would pass a needle into Jessica’s chest and aspirate the air out of the right side. They managed to remove a reasonable amount of air (25ml) although Jessica’s sats were still on the lower side and she was having to work a little harder with her breathing. A further chest X-ray showed that the situation on the right side had improved and the lung expanded and the left side was no worse than before. Since the air pocket on the left side is smaller and harder to reach (as well as close to her heart) they decided not to try and remove the air this side. Jessica’s blood gases have been fine showing that she is getting sufficient blood flow and the lungs are working well enough, so the doctors have decided that they will leave her alone for now and observe overnight in the hope that the extra air on the left side will reabsorb. Potentially she may need to be put back on the ventilator and have another chest drain put in but we are hoping that things will stabilise again overnight.

It seems strange compared to previous operations that she is so awake so soon after the surgery but she is so much more expressionate these days. Her big sad eyes sum everything up and she looks up at you to say she is fed up and poorly. However, at least she hasn’t suffered any morphine withdrawal so she hasn’t exhibited abnormal behaviour and appears to be sleeping okay, just the permanent look of weariness. An attempt to cheer her with some of her toys was mildly successful tonight. She showed some interest for a few minutes but then it was a bit much and she was beginning to get agitated so we let her rest.