Lydia is not really improving much yet, but everyone still expects that barring complications her pneumonitis will start to improve soon.
There is more discussion of pulmonary hypertension as a contributor. A repeat ultrasound yesterday showed good pumping of the heart, but a dilated right heart, suggesting resistance to pumping blood into the lungs. At that moment the blood was all going in the correct direction, but at moments of increased pressure in the pulmonary arteries, the small hole between her left and right atria (PFO) may dump some blue blood into the red blood going to the body, thus rapidly depleting the oxygen supply to her body. They don’t know whether or not this illness will leave her with residual right heart dysfunction.
Blah blah blah. To Mom and Dad, it just means she is just not better yet ... even though we both went home to sleep last night and waited a whole 12 hours before coming back to check again! :) Waiting is just hard ... probably for some of us more than others. I think of Qui-Gon Jinn in the Star Wars I movie, who during the duel that killed him is briefly separated from Darth Maul by some red force field thingy. So what does he do? He takes a knee and meditates or reconnects with the Force or whatever. Aaahh! When action is impossible, rest is prudent, but it is so far from the natural impulse to rant, to pace, or at least to just stand there frustrated. I wish I were better at this. A little closer to my usual culture, an aria from Mendelssohn’s Elijah exhorts: “O rest in the Lord; wait patiently on Him” (from Psalm 37:7). So we sit here waiting for the team to discuss Lydia’s care on their morning rounds. “Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks; waiting patiently on the Lord.”
Kevin Black
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