Kahlia has had another rough 24 hours. Last night, she began retaining A LOT of water - her kidneys were not functioning, and all the fluid from the IV was going to her lungs, stomach, and everywhere else except where it was supposed to go. Her blood pressure was DANGEROUSLY low, and because of that - her body decides that the most important organs to deliver blood to is the heart, brain, and lungs - not the kidneys. It was really scary last night seeing her numbers so low and knowing that her kidneys were not working. Also, I woke up at one point to her crying, and one of the nurses was pounding a mask all over her back, trying to break up the fluid that was building up in her lungs. Not a fun place to be for her or me! This morning, we had a an outflow of prayer chains from many many people, and immediately after those prayers began, she had her first wet diaper. In a matter of 6 hours, she had more urine outflow then the previous 2 days. Praise the Lord! I don't believe that was a coincidence. She has been more stable today with her over all numbers, but she has been waking up constantly crying, and flailing her arms and legs. She has been administered morphine almost every hour - along with an entire list of other pain meds - she is completely drugged at this point trying to manage her pain. They have concluded that somehow she has been exposed to these drugs before because her resistence to them has been so high. What she was given last night would have made ME flat on my back - amazing. She requires WAY more then any of the doctors or nurses would have ever anticipated. One Respiratory Therapist said she had never seen a child react so constant and fiesty as Kahlia. It's good to see her fighting, it makes her stronger, but she's a little over the top for their liking.

Mid day they decided to take off her respirator mask and tube in her mouth that went to her stomach. She was so irritated by it, they took it out probably sooner then they normally would. The Cardiologist was very surprised, but she's holding her own - like I keep saying - she's a fighter !!! :-) We gave her a few sips from a sippy cup, and she grabbed and drank like there was no tomorrow.

This evening has gone better then it was through the day. She is sleeping a little more soundly, though even now she wakes up briefly every 10-15 min. to let out a scream and let us all know she doesn't like her current situation, then she goes right back to sleep. The poor girl - they say this is the hardest age to do the heart surgery - babies are babies and they don't do much. Older children are old enough to be told what is going on and actually understand. She has no idea what is happening to her and why. Over all - she has improved. For that I am very grateful.

Today has been a rough day for our little Kahlia. It started out very uneventful this morning as the doctors and crew came by for their rounds and talked about Kahlia. She seemed to have done very well - as they would have expected - through the night. She seems to be out of the "danger" zone, though as the day progressed, she became more and more agitated every time she woke up. They were not able to keep her comfortable, and she cried and squirmed and signed for drink all day. She was absolutely miserable. They said all kids respond differently, but she is on the more difficult end of the spectrum. She did not respond with the amount of drug dosage they normally give her size little girl, they had to give well above what they thought they would have needed. It has been exhausting for all of us. We feel so bad, so helpless as we hold her hand, try to comfort her, but really there is nothing we can do for her. They did take the breathing tube out of her today, so that is good - she is breathing normally on her own. Her heart went in and out of a normal pattern, but as the day has gone on, she has been fairly consistent on her own. We are praying for comfort, that she can stay asleep as that is the only time she is comfortable, and that her body will continue to heal quickly. I was able to hold her for a little while this afternoon, but with all the wires, tubes, IV's, etc. it was really hard to keep her relaxed enough and not get all tangled up in my arms. I got to hold her for probably 45 minutes or so. A blessing, but even then it was hard to have her look in my eyes and plead for a drink that I couldn't give her. :-( She tries to cry, but hardly anything is able to come out. She is probably in horrible pain. The poor thing. She is a fighter that's for sure - they are all saying that here. I think this may be a long night for her - she was fairly quiet last night. The only thing that kept me up last night was her her monitor that beeped every time her heart pumped. It was beeping around 110 times a minute which translated into 6600 beeps an hour which translated to us hearing approximately 59,000 beeps while trying to sleep - needless to say we didn't sleep much on a small single bed for both of us. Scott is going to stay at the Ronald McDonald house tonight so he can get a good night sleep before driving home tomorrow. I will stay here one more night with her before staying at the Ronald McDonald house starting tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting a quiet night sleep.

The picture of Scott is in the room we are staying at the Ronald McDonald House. The picture of Kahlia in bed is how she looked much of the day - struggle, struggle, struggle. The other 2 are of me holding her for a short time. Hang in there Kahlia!!!

It's 8:45pm and Kahlia has woken up twice. She can't speak because of the breathing tube going down her throat, but her eyes tell it all. She is in a lot of pain, and she even asked for a drink with her "sign". It was horrible to see the pain in her eyes...the nurse would then give her some medication, and she would immediately fall back asleep. Heart wrenching for sure, but they tell us that she is responding normally. Her heart rhythm has changed a couple of times which is normal for a post op patient, but not normal for what they want to see in the next couple of days. Pray that her heart stabilizes to a normal rhythm permanently so there will be no need for a pacemaker. God is good, my body is fatigued from the stress of the day, but very grateful one day is behind us.

Praise the Lord. Kahlia is out of surgery and is now in the PICU. She is not out of the woods yet by any means, but she is doing well according to all the doctors. She has woken up briefly several times, and looks like she is in a lot of pain, but then they give her more medicine, and she relaxes and goes back to sleep. No sound comes out because of her breathing tube, but she looked like she wanted to cry a couple of minutes ago, and she looked like she was hurting really bad. So hard to see her this way as her little eyes look up at you and probably wonder what is going on. She did her drink sign with her hand - she's thirsty - I'm sure the breathing tube down her throat is not much fun for her. :-( It was hard to see her for the first time after surgery - we knew what to expect and were well prepared by the doctors, but it still doesn't completely prepare you for what you see and feel. It was over whelming, the tears came once again as we looked at our precious little girl hooked up to so many machines, tubes, gadgets, etc. She's a little fighter though, and we are so very proud of her. This will probably be a long night for us as she learns to adjust to her newly functioning heart, but what a blessing that she is doing well right now. There was a risk of needing a pace maker long term, and that will not be the case - praise the Lord. We felt everyone's prayers today - it was a long and stressful day, but we are amazed at the out pouring of love and encouragement we have received by those we know and even those we don't. I will probably post more later, we are tired and ready to go eat dinner.

Our pre-op appointment went well this morning. We met with Kahlia's surgeon - Dr. Langley, the Physicians asst., and the nurse practitioner. We went over the risks and exactly what will take place before, during, and after the surgery. They took some blood for lab tests, and we got a tour of the PICU. While in there - we ran into Dr. Armsby who did two of Kahlia's Cardiac Caths. She was so friendly and nice - we also saw another Cardiologist that I have seen on several occasions while here - everyone jut loves on Kahlia, I know she is in the best care possible. Though scared, I feel a peace. Kahlia's ear swabs came back clear, so she no longer has to be in "isolation" every time we come to the hospital. I am also able to stay in the Ronald McDonald house after I spend the first few nights with Kahlia in the ICU. I was at first denied since she was not cleared with her ear "bugs" - but now that it has been over 3 months since her infection, and the lab came back "normal" all is well. :-)
It's been easy to break down these last couple of days. I feel strong most of the time, but sometimes it's hard not to think about the "what if's".
We will be at Doernbecher Children's Hospital at 6:30am. They plan to take her back to the operating room at 7:30. It usually takes them a couple of hours of preparation before the surgeon actually begins. He expects the surgery to last 4-5 hours. We should know how she is doing post -op by mid to late afternoon.
Again - thank you to all who are praying for our family - we really feel God's covering during this stressful time. God is in control - we know that. I will post updates through out the day tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to our beautiful Kahlia! :-) She is 2 years old today, and we are so grateful we were able to celebrate her birthday at home before her surgery in 3 days. It was a HUGE blessing, and so fun to watch her try and open all her presents. She had a little princess party since she is our little princess. Tomorrow we leave for Portland with Kahlia's pre-op appts. on Monday first thing starting at 8am. She will have about 4hrs of appts. - sigh... Not looking forward to leaving my other kiddos tomorrow. Really quite sad. Makenna is taking it VERY hard - acting out, crying, I don't think she knows how to handle the emotions that are inside of her right now. So tough for a little one. :-( Now that her little birthday party is behind me, I am beginning to really think about what is to come in the days to follow. We had a special prayer time for Kahlia tonight - I'm so grateful for so many family and friends who are praying hard for her - I'm scared - really scared. We ALL could use a few extra prayers these next few days...

When it rains, it pours... :-( One of our dogs - Buddy - hasn't eaten in days. We thought he would get over what ever he has, but he was eating NOTHING. Because Kahlia's surgery is next week, we HAD to take him to the vet today to see what was going on. He had a "blockage" in his colon/small intestine area - they had to do emergency surgery tonight - just what we needed right now...they found a wierd food substance, dog hair, rocks, pine needles, you name it!! If only the dog would just stick with his tried and true dog food! He will hopefully be discharged tomorrow - if he eats and poops....FRUSTRATING, but I'm glad we took him in...