Post Surgery Update #2

It's 7pm and things are looking up! Mila's heart rate and breathing have improved greatly. Breathing is pretty stable, her heart rate is all over the place but doesn't get nearly as high as it was yesterday.
She hasn't opened her eyes yet but we know it will just take time.

The PICU told us their main concern for today was her blood loss. It slowed down a lot since around 4am this morning but as of this 11am she was still losing more then expected and they said they might have to give her more blood. However this afternoon it's better so they haven't done that yet. I feel so much better now that it's slowing down.

The surgeon came in not too long ago and we got to ask him the biggest question we've had... When we had our original consult with him he said he would be doing a modified anatomical hemispherectomy on Mila's left side of her brain and leaving in as much as he could, which included the frontal lobe section. However, right after surgery we were told he removed more than he planned incuding the frontal lobe.  So we were wondering what he saw that made him change?  I think this took us back for a second.  However, the surgeon let us know that Mila's frontal lobe looked pretty bad so it needed to be removed. This is important because the goal is seizure freedom so you want anything causing havoc to be removed.

Saving the best news for last... Mila was crying a very weak and soft little cry and in that cry she said Dada!!! (Dada was Mila's first word and mainly the only thing she normally says besides Hi.)  A few hours later she was crying the same way to let us know she was in need of more pain meds and the nurse looked up at me and said " Did she just say Mama" I replied with a big smile, Yes she did!!! Mila has said this in the past but she hasn't said it in a long time.  We hope this means her speech was already transferred to the right side of her brain (speech normally comes from the left) and maybe she will be able to start talking one day soon!!! Also it's a little something to let me know my girl will come around slowly but surely!!!

Yesterday was extremely hard on us and I just can't thank you all enough for all the support! I know I say thank you a lot but it's because I'm just so touched and appreciate it so much. Please keep the prayers coming. Also we thought the word was being spread around that she was stable but didn't realize until early this evening that we only told a few people and never posted it anywhere. Every time I tried to update this blog I would get interrupted or more importantly Mila needed me to hold her hand and comfort her. I started this out saying it's 7 well it's now actually 11:43 pm. Ya, that's the life in the hospital sometimes.