Maddie update from Heather's dad

Maddie had an interesting day yesterday. She's been on a small amount of blood pressure medication but that was stopped yesterday and she tolerated the change well. She has an aggressive doctor who would like to ween her completely from the ventilator but there are still some small, stubborn pockets of air. To that end yesterday they reinserted a chest tube in order to more effectively remove the air outside of her lungs. They also inserted a tube through her ventilator and into her lungs in order to remove excess liquids there. This was a lot for Maddie to take which caused her to "de-stat", her numbers went down, so they had to temporarily increase her treatments until she stabilised. Maddie is also experiencing edema, swelling from liquid retention, over most of her body but in particular her left side. This comes and goes in response to other treatments she receives. The good news is that she wets her diaper so her drainage system is in working order. Last night Mike and Heather were able to give Maddie a gentle massage in order to help break up the swelling. Mike also changed his first diaper! Kirk