The last 24 hours with Evelyn have been incredibly heavy and scary.
Last night the team discovered there was a kink/narrowing issue involving her breathing tube and airway positioning. At first there was concern because they could not get the suction catheter to pass correctly, and there were worries about mucus plugs or something more serious. The pulmonologist and ICU team performed another bronchoscopy and found that the issue appeared to be related to a kink along with severely inflamed tissues and swelling in her airway. They ultimately had to replace her ET tube, meaning another reintubation.
They also performed an echocardiogram to look closely at her heart, and thankfully it came back reassuring from a heart function standpoint. Right now, the bigger battle is her lungs.
Today the doctors also found a small clot in her LVAD tubing, so they changed out the circuit. They explained this can happen, especially in the first few weeks after surgery while they work to carefully balance everything. They also restarted nitric oxide to help lower the pressures in her lungs and reduce strain on her heart and circulation.
Despite all of this, Evelyn’s lungs have continued struggling badly from pulmonary edema, and she has required 100% oxygen support again. Today things became even more serious when the team had to start a paralytic medication to fully relax her body and allow the ventilator to work more effectively because she is going into respiratory failure. Essentially, they are placing her into a medically induced sleep state to give her body the best possible chance to rest and heal. This allows all the machines, and drugs to work most effectively at healing her.
They still have tools and treatments available to support her and give her the best fighting chance, but none of this makes it any less terrifying to watch as her parents.
Please continue praying for our sweet girl. Right now she needs every bit of strength she can get.
How You Can Help
We’re getting ready for the big fundraiser garage sale for COTA for Evelyn’s Heart starting next Thursday! Thank you to everyone who has donated items to the garage sale!
THURSDAY MORNING JUNE 4th: Join us for coffee and donuts available for donation to COTA for Evelyn’s Heart and shop our amazing items from our community!
Garage Sale Details:
June 4-6
Location: 7040 Eagle Trail, Centerville, MN
Time: Thurs. and Fri. 8am to 5pm
Sat. 8am to 12pm
Get your “Hearts for Evelyn” T-Shirt
Join our “Hearts for Evelyn” Facebook Group
What makes our partnership with COTA so great is that they will be with Evelyn throughout her lifetime. Every dollar donated to COTA in honor of Evelyn goes to transplant-related expenses. Thank you for being here with us for Evelyn.