Thursday, October 08, 2009

Latest Update on Claire Lane ** Prayer Request **

Here are the latest two entries from the Lane family:

Posted Oct 5, 2009 3:03pm

Great work, Claire!!! The techs have taken her off of the EEG (monitoring her brain wave activity) because she is showing signs of alertness when her sedation starts wearing off. She has responded to the command: "open your eyes" and "move your finger"... although her response is slow, we have never been so thrilled to see Claire follow directions! We are still very aware that she has likely sustained some degree of brain damage, but we will not know the extent for quite some time. For now, we are just thrilled that she can hear us and respond at all. Her vitals remain stable (with heavy medication regulating them) and she has all but bored the nurses to death, today... which is just the way we want it.

Claire remains in very critical condition and although we are thrilled with every tiny bit of good news we receive, we have to stay "cautiously optimistic" about her condition. Her lungs remain covered with infection (although today's x-ray did show a tiny smudge of darkness at the top!) and she remains on the blood-thinner/life-support/bypass which are keeping her tiny little body alive. She is still fighting for her life...but what a fight she is putting up.

We are looking forward to another day of holding her warm, pudgy hand and reading to her. The fact that we are still here with her, one full week after her heart attack and crisis makes us the luckiest parents alive.


Here's one that had some humor in it:

Posted Oct 6, 2009 9:13am

All stable over night. Vitals remain in good shape. She got a bath and looks nice and smooth. (The hair is another issue, and will require its own rehab therapist). She was suctioned again overnight and they were able to remove more gunk (I think that's the technical term); so we are hoping (cautiously, as always) for a good X-Ray report.


Followed by a very encouraging note:

Posted 23 hours ago

Way to go, Monkey!! Another stable night for Claire, so we got a sweet, warm, soft hand to hold this morning. She is starting to give the doctors and staff a run for their money... she keeps coming off the sedative and tries to move her hands and legs, opens her eyes and attempts to breathe on her own (all good signs to Mom and Dad, but considered misbehaving to the docs since they want her completely still and inactive). They have added medications to keep her mellow (she has become a drug-addict's dream!). Today she opened her eyes on command, and when I asked she moved her little fingers while I was holding her hand, which of course had me in tears...but I'll take tears of joy any moment of the day!
Claire just finished having her lungs cleaned by the respiratory team. They used a video scope to find trouble spots of "gunk" (Scott's technical term), loosen them and then suck them out (I hope you are not eating while you read this!). She handled the treatment very well and will have a follow up x-ray at 1pm. Hopefully, I'll be back on with a good x-ray update this afternoon. We've heard "talk" by her medical team about weaning her off of the life-support machine and onto the ventilator over the course of the week and weekend. Nothing definite, but it seems they are encouraged about her stability and progress this week. The "weaning" process poses a whole new array of obstacles for Claire, but that little fighter has made it this far, so we are confident she is going to forge through this "Claire-style" and make those docs earn their paychecks this week.

We are so proud of our little girl and how strong she has been this week. She continues to amaze us each day.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us through this. All of your thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes are helping us make it through each day and they are helping Claire as she continues to fight for her life.


And finally the most encouraging note so far:

Posted 18 hours ago

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE...Look out, swine flu, here comes Claire Lane! Scott and I got to meet with the docs following Claire's x-ray and we are starting to see visible progress in her right lung. There are now two small sized pockets of air in her right lung, indicating a lack of GUNK in those two areas. This means that her lung has some "vacancy" for volume. Her left lung is still quite full, but there is one small area that is starting to darken - indicating a lack of gunk. She is definitely headed in the right direction, even though she is certainly not out of the woods. We continue to stay "cautiously optimistic" (that's our mantra for right now), but that little monkey is giving us so much hope. She has become our little Super Hero. When she gets out of here, I'm going to add a little red cape to her school uniform! We are so proud of you, Little Claire!!!

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