Monday Supplement

Nov 26th

I am sorry that this is such a roller coaster. I enjoyed hearing how happy the last post made some of you feel- I felt it too! And I haven't lost hope, but even as I was writing it, Noa was at the hospital struggling very hard.

I guess after they changed from her old ventilator (VDR-what is it? click here) to the conventional one, her gases steadily declined, and so the plan was possibly to turn up the settings on the new one high or put her back on VDR, which aids her lungs more efficiently.

But the more jarring news was when the nurse called and told us that they had scheduled to change the dialysis circuit around 1pm but had encountered some problems. I guess, for some reason, the filter clotted on the circuit and it caused distress with Noa. Like last time, her heart rate and blood pressure dropped low enough for the doctor to intervene. They gave her 'volume' (which opens up and puts more pressure in her veins, causing the heart to work harder) but when that didn't work, they had to give her epinephrine again (adrenaline) to shock her heart back quicker.

They couldn't figure out why the circuit had reacted that way. When they tried it a second time, it did it again! This time they were able to stop it before it effected Noa. I made it to the hospital for the third attempt at 5:27, and it went smoothly. They aren't exactly sure if it was a filter problem or a catheter issue, but the doctors are right...Noa does not do well with all these dialysis machine changes, and her body can only tolerate so many.

I am sad and sorry that this happened. Noa is back on the old ventilator with high settings as well as dopamine (a drug for her heart) and when I left, her blood pressure was still low. They are waiting for her to slowly recover from this.

There are so many people pulling for her. Not only friends and family, but so many people who have only heard about her...as well as many doctors and nurses and other staff that have had the opportunity to work with Noa. All of us are on this roller coaster- hoping and praying for her. I held her hand for awhile before coming back tonight. She was just still and sadly swollen (especially one of her eyes). I am sorry for her...to her.