I’m sitting in Julia’s room after a good day, but she’s finally crying from the pain of the chest tubes. It’s hard to watch, but we have dose of morphine on board to keep her comfortable and the team is planning to remove one or more lines tomorrow. We’re crossing our fingers, but Jocelyn may be able to hold her baby again very soon.

Julia’s heart has continued in its normal sinus rhythm for nearly fifteen hours now, but she’s still connected to the pacemaker should there be the need. Our hope is that she’ll go a full forty-eight hours unassisted and at that point, Dr. Walters will feel a comfort level in taking the pacer wires out. You’ll hear more on this later.

Her temperature is still a little on the high side, but her blood and urine cultures are negative thus far, so we’re breathing a tentative sigh of relief. She is on broad spectrum antibiotics, including Vancomycin – what Arlene, our night nurse, refers to as “one of the big guns”.

On a lighter note, a couple Detroit Tigers – starter Max Scherzer and relief pitcher Al Alburquerque came by this afternoon for a quick visit. My sister, Lisa, was green with envy! Even though she’s lived in California and Colorado for years, she’s still a dyed-in-the-wool Tiger’s fan. Julia, on the other hand, was nonplussed and probably more interested in the pain meds that nurse Jacquie was giving her at the time!

We’re already seeing a massive improvement in her eating. In another surprise for the medical team, Julia has taken very well to the bottle again; but the difference in her feeding efficiency and vigor is truly startling. What would have taken a half hour or more for her to take is now being downed (greatfully!) in less than fifteen minutes! The medical team is excited about this as we are!

Finally, we’d like to give Dr. Walters a big thanks and send him off for a well-earned rest. He’s taking the weekend off and leaving Julia in the care of his partner, Dr. Delius. He will return on Monday, but wanted to give you his personal regards and leave you with a message of encouragement. Enjoy and we’ll see you tomorrow!