ECMO Day 2

Thursday 14th December (our 4th Wedding Anniversary)

Grace had a stable night on the ECMO machine but the GOSH ward (Cardiac Critical Care 4) is closed for much of the morning for other procedures and so we wait to see Grace until after this and the ward round are over. Later in the morning we read Grace some stories and Matt played her some of her favourite music from his IPod. All the nurses said how beautiful Grace is. Grace's Granny visited as well today and she started to wake a little bit but looks uncomfortable. I helped the nurses to do Grace's eye and mouth care and to wash her.

At around 7pm, the nurses moved Grace slightly on to her side to check whether her back was getting marked by the sheets, etc., Grace pulled a face, looked very uncomfortable and as if she was about to cry. She also started to cough but then all I could see was that blood had started pouring from her neck at the site where the tubes go in. All I could say was NO! Matt immediately pulled me out of the room and we went to a small quiet room while the doctors worked on Grace - we could see that they had all appeared immediately and were doing what they could to get Grace stable again. This is the most frightened I have EVER been in my life and I am terrified that someone is going to come into this little room with bad news. I can't stop crying and Matt has just gone white but is being very calm. A young nurse keeps coming to update us - the canula in Grace's artery in her neck became dislodged and her heart stopped for around 4 minutes. However, during this time, the Consultant was 'bagging' Grace and keeping her oxygen levels up, she was given Adrenaline and a nurse was doing compressions on her chest. The surgeon then arrived straight away and repaired the canula in Grace's neck 'vessel'. Apparently this is now in a much better position and Grace was stable and back on the ECMO machine in around 15 minutes from the 'incident'. We are in shock and can't believe what just happened. We are so grateful that the doctors acted so quickly and that it doesn't seem as though Grace will have suffered any permanent damage from this. However, we are told that lots more tests will be required to ensure that Grace's heart and brain have not been adversely affected. This terrifies me as I can't imagine Grace being anything other than her normal, clever, cheeky self when she recovers, although all I can think of at the moment is that SHE HAS TO recover and soon.

The Consultant tells us that they will now keep Grace quite muscle relaxed and sedated in order to stop any further movement in the canula in her neck. Obviously this is a good idea. They also tell us how rare a de-canulation is and how unlucky Grace has been - AGAIN. Apparently this incident may have delayed Grace's progress on ECMO somewhat and this might mean that she is on ECMO for a bit longer than might otherwise have been the case. Matt and I went for a stiff drink to the local pub near GOSH - aptly named The Perserverance. We then went backed and kissed Grace goodnight and tried to sleep for the night. Grace's neck and hair are now soaked in blood but the nurses have cleaned up the sheets as far as possible and this is the least of our worries!