Eliza Update - 2/21 1pm

Eliza continues to defy doctors' orders: last night around midnight, the doctors (perhaps still a little giddy from the EEG excitement) decided to try to remove Eliza from the respirator. After a very stressful and unsuccessful thirty minutes or so, they had to reintubate her. Her lungs just aren't strong enough for her to breathe on her own yet. Baby steps...

Meanwhile, I got the official word on the EEG from the neurology team this morning. As Sam and I had deduced on our own last night, the surprisingly almost-seizure-free EEG is not likely the result of any medication; after all, Eliza is actually on fewer medications now than she was as of the last EEG reading. So one of two things has likely happened: 1) the brain disease/disorder/injury/insult/ whatever is getting better in spite of (and not because of) treatment, or 2) Eliza's brain has suffered such damage after almost three weeks of seizing that it is no longer able to seize, despite the fact that whatever was wrong probably still is. Nothing but time will tell which is true; we still need to wait to see what Eliza can do as she struggles to wake up. She's not doing much of that today, but no one is surprised after the extreme stress with which she was faced during last night's extubation experiment. So she's sleeping it off, and we're waiting as patiently as we can to see what's next on her (that is, God's) agenda.

Sam's back at work as of today, though likely just for half days for a while. In fact, he's en route to the hospital now, hopefully to have a look at another EEG reading from today while he spends some time with Eliza. We'll keep you posted as we see what God has in store for our little girl today.

Love,
Daniele et al