Home Sweet Home

Caroline was discharged yesterday! It was a whirlwind being moved out of the PICU & onto the floor-then to x-ray, CT then d/c'd the next day! It's so good to be home. She did great on the flight and slept until 11:00 this am. She's only asked for Tylenol a couple of times and feels really good. Dr. Campbell said she could return to school next week. We'll start off with half days.

Thank you all again for your well wishes and prayers. We are so grateful for our support system. Couldn't do all this without you~

Hope you all enjoy your weekend. Take care. SP
P.S. CHRISTUS will forward Caroline's mail to our home address. Thanks!

Parting the Resident Sea

Caroline got her JP out this am and has floor privileges. She couldn't get on her scooter fast enough and busted through report. You go girl!

In PICU but have a rm lined up--just in time to get d/c x-rays and paperwork. Maybe home tomorow! SP

Chest Tube Is Out!!

WooHoo! They pulled Caroline's chest tube out today and she did great! The JP will come out tomm. Still waiting on a room. I'm thinking we'll be d/c'd from here afterall! This is Caroline's Respiratory Therapist, Casey. He takes good care of her and always makes her smile! SP

Monday Update

Caroline had a good day today. Still in the PICU~6th floor's full. She's tolerating formula via G-tube (10cc/hr) with minimal pain. Labs still suggest some bacteria somewhere in her tummy. She refused all pain meds today and is moving slowly, but is moving. She's sitting up w/ help and rolling side to side easier. Still no problems in the Resp. dept. Her chest and JP have really slowed down. They plan on removing the chest tube tomm. and leaving the JP to pick up the slack. She said today that she wants to go home and she misses school. We played cards, Connect Four, and did some word searches. I'll update again tomm. Thanks for checking in! Take care~SP



Thank you Sandy for the airline tickets! We don't know what we'd do without you!!

Sunday Evening Update

Caroline's home trach is in and capped w/o O2. We'll have to upsize when we get home as she had a large leak around her usual 4.0 trach. Caroline's breathing easy capped. She was satting at 92% before surgery and is up to 97-98% post surgery. That's awesome! I think she'll breathe even easier in the next week. She's really sore. They're going to pull her JP tube tomorrow. Her chest tube is still draining quite a bit and she'll have it atleast a few more days. Lungs are crystal clear! No fever!! Blood pressure is back up!

Her tummy trouble is improving. Still passing some blood in her stool. Surgery came by for a consult and thought it may have been from the enema. Still no g-tube or po feeds. They started TPN tonight in her central line. If she can tolerate half strength feeds tomm. then we'll go to the 6th floor. She did get out of bed and into her wheelchair-so glad we brought it- and payed Uno and Connect Four. She's back in bed watching her Tom and Jerry DVD. Her voice is still really raspy but managed to chat with her buddies, Sydney and Sophie tonight. They made her night I'm sure. Thanks for calling girls and she's looking forward to watching the mermaid movie when she gets back.

Mrs. Sproat's class sent Caroline the sweetest card today. It really brightened her day. Thank you everybody! She smiled the entire time she read it. SP

If you would like to mail Caroline the address is:
Caroline C. Pierce/ Titanium Rib pt.
c/o CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children's Hospital
333 N. Santa Rosa St.
San Antonio, TX 78207

Saturday Update III

Caroline hasn't felt so great this afternoon. Still c/o tummy ache. Had to get an enema and catherized to r/o a UTI. Passing some blood. Abd. x-ray just showed a lot of gas-not a lot of stool-still no feedings. Her WBC is elevated today. From a respiratory standpoint she's doing good. Still off O2. We think she'll feel much better once this tummy trouble subsides. SP

Saturday Update II

Caroline's back in her old trach and off O2!! Abdominal x-ray was ok, just a lot of gas. She's resting well. We'll update tomm. SP

Another good report

Caroline continues to do well. She's now on CPAP and her chest tube is to water seal. Pain ball is out and morphine stopped. Afebrile and tolerating feeds. They want to keep her in the PICU through today as her chest xray was questionable-maybe positional? Heart rate is a little elevated but pain meds were decreased. She just had a good bath and a linen change and is resting well.

Tate's having a ball at Granna's. He got a new baseball bat yesterday and two time-out's! We do miss him terribly!

Thanks for checking in and have a great day! SP

Caroline's first day post-op was good and uneventful. She's resting comfortably and tolerating some g-tube feeds. They think by tomorrow she'll be ready to start weaning off the vent and will have the ENT as back up due to her tricky airway. She's already asking when she'll be able to ride her scooter! Can't believe it~SP

Surgery was a success!

Caroline's surgery went extremely well today. A rod was placed on her (R) side and her ribcage expanded. Her lung volume improved immediately. Pretty cool that they can watch as the lung fills the space that had been crowded. She's in the PICU vented and in quite a bit of pain. They're working hard to keep her comfortable. She's talking to us a little, mostly crying that the vent hurts, but knows we're here. She's so brave and we are so very proud of her. Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers. ~SP

It's a "Go!"

Pre-op started at 8:oo this am. It was a long day but I did great. I have to be at the hosp. at 6:30 tomm. am! EARLY!! I am Dr. Campbell's first pt. and hope to be out of sugery by lunchtime. We stayed in and ordered pizza tonight and played Uno. I beat my dad! That's all for now. Love, Caroline

We're here! It's sunny and beautiful~about 89 degrees and no pollen! Caroline got a window seat on the flight-bonus! The city is alive and there's lots of Final Four everything everywhere (RJ, a lot of KS fans...we're thinking of you!!) and tonight should be fun just people watching at the Marcado. We'll write after pre-op tomorrow! Take care~ SP

Get ready, set....Caroline had her pre-op w/ her Ped. today and looks good. Her u/a (which is now required by TX) was normal. She'll start a prophylactic antibiotic on Thursday and that will hopefully keep her covered until surgery! We leave on 4/7, hosp. pre-op 4/8 and surgery Wed.'s 4/9!