Answers...FINALLY!!!

Yesterday afternoon, soon after I posted, we got many, much needed answers. Wesleigh Anne does NOT have the flu...however the doctors were correct about her having a virus. She has RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus)...a virus that typically causes cold-like symptoms. The stressful part about RSV is that in NORMAL infants it can cause shortness of breath, rapid breathing and increased mucous production. In Wesleigh Anne's case this can be pretty bad as her oxygen saturations were already not great and she was already breathing really fast. The good news is that it's not as bad as the flu and that we are already a few days through the two week course that the virus typically runs. We can't say for sure when she started the virus as she had a low-grade fever all weekend which could have been related to the virus or could have been related to the contrast she received in the heart catheterization. One thing's for sure...she had RSV on Monday which caused the 106 fever and we have to at least be on day three. According to the cardiologist, the next two to three days are when the "peak" of the virus should be...when WA will be the sickest. So, we are continuing to watch Wesleigh Anne very closely and manage her already increased secretions. Hopefully this will all be over soon and we can get back to helping Wesleigh Anne grow and learn. I should say that this infection has put us in a bit of a sticky situation. We were moved to the PCICU before we knew that Wesleigh Anne had RSV, which can be fairly contagious. Had they known at the time that we had RSV, we would not have been allowed to move to PC. Because we didn't know and because we desperately do not want to infect any of the other delicate babies, we are taking HUGE precautions. Anyone that enters Wesleigh Anne's room wears a gown, gloves and mask. When we come to the unit, we go straight to Wesleigh Anne's room and when we leave her room, we leave the hospital. Lastly, we have a one-to-one nurse who stays just outside of WA's door so that she does not spread germs around the unit. We are very appreciative of the staff allowing us to stay in PC so that Wesleigh Anne can be cared for by the best doctors and nurses in the hospital and we are trying to be very careful to take every precaution possible to ensure the safety of the other babies.

I may not have posted this yesterday, but on Friday I had a conversation with her heart surgeon about where we go from here. He says he needs at least 6 more months before he can fix Wesleigh Anne's tricuspid valve, which is our ultimate goal. Until then we will use home oxygen as needed and possibly some new medications to keep Wesleigh Anne's oxygenation at an acceptable level. This 6 months will make Wesleigh Anne around a year old when she has her next heart surgery and much, much bigger. Hopefully we can hold out until then and keep Wesleigh Anne healthy. I am praying that God will keep her stable for a year before we are forced to go back to surgery...that way she will have lots of time to grow and we know she will definitely be big enough for Dr Bradley to do what he needs to. Thank you all for continuing to pray for our family and especially for our little princess!!!