A couple quick things to add

So, Im right along with Nicki on this deal about not knowing terms and who does what...but thankfully, we dont have to. However, that doesnt help you reading this to know whats up...(So ANNE!!! IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND CAN HELP CLARIFY ANYTHING THAT NICKI AND I GOOFED UP, PLEASE DO IN A COMMENT AT THE END) By the way, we love to have fun with our nurses...it is sooo refreshing to be able to laugh down here. But just for Anne's sake, I kind of owe her because I called her our 'other nurse'. I coulda used a little bit better terminology than that for the person who was here for my wife tonite, and has been so many more times in the past 2 1/2 weeks. So...I am going to say this about her: Anne has been, simply put....amazing...in the NICU for the Westra family. She tries, it seems, harder to make our lives simpler and help us understand more, even if it makes her job more difficult. We are truly thankful for her!

So back to Melanie: I wish I could download 2 Xrays to show you for a visual of what Im talking about. Melanie's pneumatoseal (sp??) had pretty much grown to a point that her right lung wasnt working. We could tell something has been up for the last couple of days, and this really proved it. It was truly amazing how large this thing had grown. REQUIRED: chest tube. So, if I understand correctly, chest tubes dont generally go into lungs, but rather into an area between the chest cavity and the lung. However, again, our girl wanting to show off, wanted to be different. She lays peacefully now, with a tube going completely into her lung. They had to do this to get rid of the air and infection out of this 'spot'. (from now on, Im going to refer this pneumatoseal as a spot, cuz I cant spell it right anyway) What they found was that she must have a hole in her lung (prior to the one I just told you about) that is filling this 'spot' with air. They are hoping that after suctioning out the mucus and air out, that this hole will close.

Your probably wondering whats gonna happen to the hole that this tube made that got put into her lung???? Yeah, Im just as anxious to see as you are. They plan on pulling the tube out tomorrow, and putting a more normal tube in. The placement of the more normal one would be in between the chest cavity and lung, instead of in the lung. This is supposed to allow the air that escapes from the lung into the chest cavity (coming from the chest tube that is in place now) will pressure itself out of Melanies body. However, there isnt a guarantee that this new hole will close. They hope it will, but its a pretty big hole in her lung. To size of this tube is probably just smaller than a drinking straw, just to give you an idea. It will probably take a while to close up, and there are other risks as well...but Im not going to concern you with them now because we are all OPTIMISTS....RIGHT???? Alright! stop worrying about it then...good grief...everything will be ok! :)

As far as her PDA...thats off again. This is like trying to get a posed picture of a 6 month old. "OK! shes ready....oh...crap....she fell over again...lets set her back up. OK! GO!...oh crap...she spit all over herself. OK! oh...awww...SOMEBODY FIND HER PIPE! SHE WONT STOP CRYING!!"

Wow, so, not sure where that analogy came from, but I guess if you read into it deep enough, it might fit....you know what I mean.

But as Nicki said before, everyone here is doing a fantastic job. Literally, all the doctors kept bouncing ideas off each other, weighing pros and cons of what each scinerio would accomplish, and I truly believe that God gave them the wisdom to do whats best for little Melanie. Praise be to Him!

Have a good night