Francesca Update - Pray Hard!!

Hi there everyone! Not sure if everyone who may subscribe to my blog or look at it through a reader can see the post that stays at the top, so I thought I would update everyone on baby Francesca here. We really need a lot of prayers for her right now. I just received a text message with the latest update so I will try and recap it for you all.

Basically, they are taking Francie off of the ECMO (heart and lung machine). They did some tests and they feel she should be able to handle it. From what I understand, they decided this was the safest option as they found a questionable spot in her brain during the ultrasound yesterday...they won't know if it was a small bleed or not until later today. But because of that they decided they needed to try to see if she can get off of the ECMO machine. She will still be on a respirator though for oxygen.

So please pray that her little lungs start doing their job and she continues to fight!

If you haven't heard about my Blog Candy for a Cause in honor of baby Francesca and after reading this you are compelled to help out, please consider sending me a card for Francesca and her parents to let them know prayers are being said for them. Check out all of the details in this POST. Thanks for your support and I will continue to update you!

Update: Here is what Francesca's Online Journal said regarding what I talked about above earlier today...I prefer it when it is in their words and not mine!

"Hello Family and Friends,

We do apologize for the 2 day gap in our updates. Our little Francesca has been a busy girl. On Thursday, her vitals & blood gases were all fairly good. However, she had a questionable ultrasound of her head, and the radiologist was concerned that he saw the start of a small bleed on the left side of her brain. They did a 2nd ultrasound, which thankfully did not show a progression of the area he was concerned about.

With the new concern about a 2nd questionable area in Francesca’s brain, they decided to “push” Francesca a bit more in weaning off the ECMO from yesterday afternoon to this morning. Luckily, Francesca does appear to be the one running the show, and she did just fine with the “wean-down” on the ECMO.

After weighing the pros and cons of keeping her on the ECMO another day, it was decided early this afternoon that it would be the best decision to take Francesca off the ECMO. The surgery went fine, and she is now recovering with Mom and Dad by her bedside, as well as both Grandmas & a Grandpa doing shifts too. We are cautious but happy that Francesca had progressed on the ECMO enough to safely come off, and are now waiting to see how she will do “on her own”. She is still getting a lot of ventilator & medication support (lots of sedatives), to help her with the transition. They say these first 24 hours off the ECMO are important, but she appears to be doing OK so far.

Please continue to pray for our sweetest Francesca. These have been a couple of long days, but she seems to have made a bit of progress."

Posted on 12/19 at 7:13 pm