Two Steps Back

Today the docs noticed that the xrays of Katherine's right lung looked a little hazy so they decided to do an ultrasound on her chest. The ultrasound showed that she has a buildup of fluid around the lung, so they decided to put a smaller chest tube called a pigtail in to drain the fluid out. Just before Mark, the nurse practitioner, came to put the tube in, the doctor came back to ultrasound the left lung as well just to double check it. This ultrasound showed that the left lung had even more fluid around it so they ended up putting a pigtail on both sides of her chest. So she had had the big chest tube removed the other day, and now today she has two more, poor thing. Thankfully, these tubes are much smaller than the one they took out. So far, they have drained quite a bit of fluid out of her, which is good. Her lungs still sound horrible when we listen to her and we can feel a rumbling wheeze when we lay a finger on her chest, but hopefully the fluid will drain off and she will be able to breathe more freely. Even though this is a step backwards, we are glad that the doctors are moving slow with her when it comes to preparing to take her off the vent, so that they can watch for things like this and take care of them as they pop up. We are praying that the Lord helps her to get rid of the excess fluid and helps her to breathe easier. We know that He will help her off the vent in His own time, whenever it is right for her. We are also thankful that He has given her doctors that double check her care and are grateful that they also caught the fluid on her left lung.