Around 1:30 pm Kinley gets upset because she has a wet diaper. Once again, she let us know by sending her BP through the roof. It is amazing, and scary, how quickly she can raise her BP when she is upset. As long as she doesn't keep it highly elevated for very long we will be okay. As soon as her diaper is changed she returns to her relaxed and peaceful state.
Kinley's most recent blood gas test results come back a little after 2:00 pm. Her CO2 levels are 56 and her O2 levels are 61. We would prefer her CO2 levels between 35 and 45 and her O2 levels between 60 and 80. After analyzing her blood test numbers Dr. P and Dr. W decide to order another heart echo test to find out Kinley's pulmonary pressure. Remember, Kinley had a heart echo test yesterday morning. This is where they do an ultrasound of her heart while the ECMO machine is on minimum flow, meaning that Kinley is doing just about all of the work.
Around 2:30 pm Bridget (echo technician) arrived at Kinley's bedside with her portable ultrasound machine. As soon as Bridget was ready to begin the heart echo Brecklyn turned down the ECMO flow and Kinley was on her own. The entire test did not take long and Kinley did beautifully on her own. She kept all of her stats steady and constant through the whole test. After Bridget was done, the flow of the ECMO machine was turned back to normal (Remember, as of 6:55 am this morning the ECMO machine has not been oxygenating Kinley's blood. It is still circulating blood though and is ready to go if Kinley needs assistance oxygenating her blood.) Since this heart echo test will help determine whether or not to take Kinley off of ECMO, we will have to wait for the cardiologist to analyze the test and report back the results. If the results are good Dr. P and Dr. W will call the surgeons to have them come up and take out the ECMO tubes in Kinley's neck.
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