After a sleepless
night, I wheeled Lynn over to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care
Unit) to see Allison. We were both excited to see Allison, but we
knew that her situation was critical. We were told before hand
that ECMO was used only as a last resort. Having family members
close by helped out immensely. The nursing staff was also
helpful. They answered question after question without complaint.
They also bent some rules by allowing us to have more than just
two people in to see Allison. We were told that Allison would
have two nurses twenty four hours a day as long as staffing
levels permitted it.
We had toured the
NICU and PICU prior to Lynn giving birth, so we had a pretty good
idea of what to expect. But there weren't any children on ECMO
when we took our tour. We were both shocked when we first walked
in. Allison was placed in a private room in order to accommodate
all the equipment. Lynn and I would eventually spend a lot of
time in this room. It would become our home away from home.
When we first saw Allison her eyes weren't
open, which wasn't all that surprising considering what she had
just been through, not to mention the fact that she was heavily
sedated. The doctors and nurses warned us that Allsion would have
some fluid build up and that she would eventually look much more
bloated. She looked fine to us. We stared a lot. We also took a
lot of pictures. I ran for my camera for this one when I saw her
her with her eyes open.
That first day we only spent a few hours with Allison. Lynn
and I were both exhausted and Allison was doing fine. We had made
it past the first hurdle. All we could do now was wait.
January 10, 1998 –
Allison remained stable on ECMO. She had some fluid build-up and
appeared puffy in the face and extremities. The pediatric surgeon
informed us that he would not attempt corrective surgery while
Allison was on ECMO due to the high risks of bleeding and other
possible complications. His plan was to keep Allison on ECMO for
a full two to three weeks. At that time he would try to wean her
off of the machine. He told us that if she didn't show that she
had enough lung tissue to support herself, then there would not
be an operation.
After a sleepless
night, I wheeled Lynn over to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care
Unit) to see Allison. We were both excited to see Allison, but we
knew that her situation was critical. We were told before hand
that ECMO was used only as a last resort. Having family members
close by helped out immensely. The nursing staff was also
helpful. They answered question after question without complaint.
They also bent some rules by allowing us to have more than just
two people in to see Allison. We were told that Allison would
have two nurses twenty four hours a day as long as staffing
levels permitted it.
We had toured the
NICU and PICU prior to Lynn giving birth, so we had a pretty good
idea of what to expect. But there weren't any children on ECMO
when we took our tour. We were both shocked when we first walked
in. Allison was placed in a private room in order to accommodate
all the equipment. Lynn and I would eventually spend a lot of
time in this room. It would become our home away from home. 
When we first saw Allison her eyes weren't
open, which wasn't all that surprising considering what she had
just been through, not to mention the fact that she was heavily
sedated. The doctors and nurses warned us that Allsion would have
some fluid build up and that she would eventually look much more
bloated. She looked fine to us. We stared a lot. We also took a
lot of pictures. I ran for my camera for this one when I saw her
her with her eyes open. 
January 10, 1998 –
Allison remained stable on ECMO. She had some fluid build-up and
appeared puffy in the face and extremities. The pediatric surgeon
informed us that he would not attempt corrective surgery while
Allison was on ECMO due to the high risks of bleeding and other
possible complications. His plan was to keep Allison on ECMO for
a full two to three weeks. At that time he would try to wean her
off of the machine. He told us that if she didn't show that she
had enough lung tissue to support herself, then there would not
be an operation.