Gracie Lou: Stable . . .

"No news is good news."

Sarita and I finally couldn't stand it anymore: "What's going on with Gracie Lou?"

"Oh!" said Jonelle. "She's quite stable. Mom Lilly stayed at the hospital till 11:30 last night, and her numbers were really stable in the mid-80s [for oxygen]. And they were able to reduce the oxygen in the respirator to 75%." [They had been giving her 100% oxygen earlier in the day.]

Jonelle also said the patent ductus arteriosus is closing off. "It's now 'small' instead of 'large,'" she said. So that's a good sign.

This morning, however, despite the general stability, Gracie Lou's oxygen numbers did fall into the teens to low 40's before being restabilized more where they should be.

I'm not sure why the doctor would have commented on the fact that they have discovered that when GL's carbon dioxide gets too high, then she doesn't absorb the oxygen as well. --It seems to me, that would be self-evident. But either that is an insight that they can work with (do they have some means of relieving the CO₂ overload and thus improving oxygen uptake?), or else, considering that I am at least the fourth link in the communication chain, maybe something got garbled.

Whatever. Much more hopeful and positive outlook today.

Thank you.