BreannaSurgery

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Breanna, Amanda, Emily (family friend), Pat and I woke up at 4:30-4:45 this morning. Emily is an 8th grade graduate of Parkland Lutheran School where Breanna
goes to school. She actually graduated this last Sunday.....onward.....

We left the house at 5:35 for a 6:00 a.m. check in time. We arrived at Mary Bridge at 6:15 as we had to stop along the way for a camera. I wanted to get a
before and after of her spine. We were taken upstairs to floor 7, Pediatrics ICU room 789, and our nurses name is Jodi Lynn. (That's Breanna's Aunt Jodi's
first and middle name) Joan the Children's specialist (Tammy's moms name) brought Breanna a red teddy bear. Pastor Ring arrived at 6:30 and stayed with us
until our family prayer around 7:15. Breanna had an order in for a Valum (pill, not noise sp?) but it didn't arrive in time. It was to help her relax. Doctor
ordered Zantac, but that didn't arrive either. Anthony (Tammy's brother/Breanna's Uncle Tony's name), was Breanna's scrub guy who took her down stairs, floor
4 still K wing, Breanna was there at 8:00 a.m. while the "sleepy" doctor hooked up a million electrodes to her head, chest, waist, arms, finger, to monitor all of
her brain activity. She got to see this activity when the doctor told her to grit her teeth. It looked like the big one...10.0 earthquake...then she had to relax and
close her eyes so that they could record her normal brain pattern via her spinal cord. Breanna teared up a few times. Dr. Rajacich (Rye-a-cich) arrived on time
with him game face on. The man is different at the hospital vs. the office. This surgery was different in the beginning as we usually go with her to the little
room, where the gas is started before surgery. This time she had to be wheeled away without a relaxer, and no gas. She seemed okay. Scared likely. They told us
Breanna would be done around 1-2 p.m.

Pat and I left the prep O.R. and went to the waiting room where Emily and Amanda greeted us. Yeah, right. They already had cookies and hot cocoa. Well,
Breanna had ice cream for dinner last night at Coldstone Ice Cream Place (not actual name) so cookies and hot cocoa isn't the worst. Dr. Nick (Nicholas
Rajacich) came out at 8:45 to ask Tammy to help troubleshoot a spot for Breanna's to have one final spinal cord monitor electrode. Once Dr. Nick got the okay
info, he left, and at 9:45 the nurse in surgery called and said that Breanna was doing well, they got a late start, which was 9:15. This will set back the finish
time an hour.

On the 6th floor, where Breanna will be hopefully by tomorrow late afternoon, there is a family resource center with two computers that are online. I will be
able to update from here often and this I intend to do. Amanda and Emily are using the other computer doing important stuff, yeah right. Habbo Hotel??? They
are giggling and having an okay time, which makes Emily feel bad like she shouldn't, but I told her to remember that Breanna appreciates her sense of humor and it
is okay.

Family and friends, the phone number above is for when you want to call in and check on Breanna, BUT you have to know the code. I will email the code to
immediate family and friends and if you don't get it via email, let me know if you want it. I can't remember everyone, but most I will, and don't have hurt
feelings, I would just rather not put it on the internet. Tammy will post an update after the nurse updates at 11:00 a.m. (ish) Thank you all, keep praying!

5:24 P.M. Hello all. Sorry it took so long, the family resource center here is apparently used by some folks more than others, meaning I had Amanda get off of
the computer when someone came in looking to use it, but when I came in there wasn't anyone willing to give up checking their email or CHATTING WITH THEIR
PALS, and this person was an adult. Oh well.

Breanna is out of surgery, around 2 p.m. She was breathing on her own, her nearly 60% curvature is ballpark figured at 25%! Ye Ha! I was just informed by
Amanda that they have to give her lots of more blood, so this will be quick. I am sure she is okay, but she is very pale, her breathing is what is being monitored,
so far so good. Well this new blood news from Amanda is eating at me, and I better go, no body panic, I will be back, Breanna is still quite out of it but is
answering yes and no questions. I will come back in a bit, the grandparents are showing up and I have to check on my baby!

Wednesday June 9 7:11 p.m.

Well, Breanna is resting again. She lost a lot of blood in surgery. Why the doctor didn't tell us that is unknown. Earlier (I am not going to talk in third person
anymore, I is Tammy...he he) nurse Jodi told me that Breanna's blood count for stability should be at a 30. She was at a 29 before we went to eat. Nurse Jodi
told me that if she got to a 27 she would need more blood. So when Amanda came down stairs while I typed the above, her breathing was keeping in too much CO2
and she needed to stay awake long enough to get more pain medicine. Breanna's pain scale is the 0 - 10 tolerance, 10 is GIVE ME SOMETHING NOW! Breanna
was telling Grandma Joanne she was 5-6 on that scale. Nurse Jodi said that if we gave her pain medicine that would make her more tired, therefore increasing
the CO2 level, not good.

Now the blood issue, I guess she actually lost 1000 CC's of blood. Aunt Jodi and I were poking around the ICU room Breanna is in looking for some type of chart
to explain how much that actually is. A 12 ounce can of pop is 350 CC's. One pint of blood is 350 CC's also. She went through those 3 pints of blood during
surgery and within the last hour has gone through another one, and likely one more will be needed. She is very pale. She hasn't kept her eyes open for more than
5 seconds at a time. She is getting regular (hydrating) fluids (hooked up to about 10 tubes 2 main IV's) to help her urinate, IV antibiotics, blood, and other stuff
in between such as pain meds. It isn't pretty to look at, but you don't think about it like that. I guess we are used to seeing all the wires and tubes on her, but
she has lost a lot of blood. She has been asleep for about 30 minutes, I will go back up shortly as other family members are visiting 2 at a time.

Amanda and Grandma Joanne went to see Breanna after we ate and Amanda got scared because the breathing number was low, below 10-12 (should be 20's) and the
alarm went off. That happens often and we tell Breanna to take a few quick breaths and it will stop once she gets back above that magic number. This time
though, for Amanda, she saw one of the 5 stat lines on the monitor "flat line" and heard the nurse order more blood, so it scared her. That is why I booked on
upstairs. Okay, I will be back down after a bit. Keep the prayers going, we aren't out of the woods yet. I think we are still okay with the donations of blood.
Breanna will always have the BR1 account number at Cascade, so feel free to continue donating in her name. If you went to Cascade and didn't have them fill out a
card to send to Breanna, please either let me know or call Cascade and tell them you changed your mind and would like for Breanna to recieve the "I thought of you
and donated blood" card. We have a scrap book going and those are taped to the inside. It looks pretty neat. Breanna should be on the 6th floor tomorrow, but
at this point we are 24 hours away still from that A-OKAY by the doctor. TTFN - Tammy

Home at 11:45 p.m.

We had Jodi and Kirk take Amanda and Emily home after 8:00 p.m. They took Emily home and Amanda to their house until Pat and I were done at the hospital what
not. Let's see... Breanna's blood pool/loss that is draining from her back was at 400 CC's when we left at 11. When the 7 p.m. nurses came on shift, her blood
loss was at 300. So in that 4 hours, 100 is improving. They had to turn Breanna on her other side. Me and three nurses did this task. The nurse couldn't believe
how well Breanna tolerated the pain of doing so. She is actually tolerating quite a bit. She did talk to Pat and I a bit before we left. At 7 p.m. her pain level
was a 1, after turning her she got to a 6, the nurses promise her more pain meds, remember she has a constant drip as is and they can't exceed ....da da da, well,
they were going to give them to her, but the little one next door had to go into emergency surgery and what can ya do? They were with him from about 8 to 10
o'clock while Pat and I were with Breanna and everyone had gone home. THANKS EVERYONE WHO CAME! Anyway, I combed Breanna's hair as she sleep. I
actually stroked her hair for a while with my head lying next to hers, and a funny thing I noticed while doing so was that I was also twirling my hair with the
other hand. Sitting in a chair laying your head down isn't too bad for about 30 minutes and then you could fall asleep need be, well if your husband wasn't
watching Seinfeld and laughing. Just kidding, I wasn't about to fall asleep. I laughed too, I am just as guilty. Breanna's face isn't nearly as swollen as it was
earlier today. She has a tad bit of pink on her beautiful full lips! She has great lips, you'll see, I actually took pictures of her and I know I will be in trouble
later. There are 3 left, I will get those taken tomorrow so I can scan them and upload them to here. Well, Amanda will have to as I am certain she will be out of
PICU at some point tomorrow, depending on when they start the 24 hour clock when the 5 p.m. ish blood episode took place.???? We'll see. Breanna still can't
have water or ice chips.

After turning Breanna over, about 30 minutes later she had a fever of 99.8 and her pain level was at a 6. The nurses came back from helping the little guy next
door, and Breanna was in and out if we talked to her, but we let her sleep and talked with the head nurse about faith and our car accident 8 years ago. I gave her
chills and blessed her (her words) with uplifting reassurance about my experience and Breanna's. Remember, Breanna was three and she told the nurses that she
was with Santa, when she died and came back to life through means of CPR? Well, yeah, she said that and it was so moving. What three year old would tell a tale
such as seeing Santa whom looks somewhat like Santa in the face, not the belly, and just sat with her not talking but just relaxing and warm???? Goose bumps for
me again..I better go to bed. It is 1 a.m. and the nurses reasurred me they would call if need be. There wasn't any place for me to sleep and Breanna's fever was
down a bit, we told her we would "see her in a bit" and came home. I will re-read this tomorrow as I probably am not making a lot of sense. I am caught up though.