Day 2 in the PICU

Here we are once again sitting here watching Kasi work on getting stronger.  She is a little confusing for the doctors right now because her art line is reading a totally different blood pressure then her cuff.  They are going to start taking more with her cuff to see what they can do to start getting good readings all of the time.  They thought the art line was good, and they were actually going to treat her for high blood pressure because it was creeping up a little bit.  I asked the nurse to take it with the cuff and that is when they started to see the BIG difference.  So we are not really worried at this point because the numbers aren't super high for her.  She has a lot of fluid on her body so that keeps her blood pressure up.  When her kidneys decide to kick in and start up really working and have adjusted to good blood flow we should see a difference in her over all recovery.  This takes a while though.  They are the ones that have to process the fluid and get it out of her system. 
Her tummy has not started to kick in either yet.  This is normal and for a surgery like this it might take even longer than the "normal" because it was very lengthy. 
She is a trooper through all of this.  She has to start to take deep breaths which are super hard for her to do.  Also, she is starting to have some of the fluid in her lungs go into her tissue.  We are doing these exercises once every hour to help the fluid not settle into her lung.  It would be a big step backward if these would settle into her lung tissue because she would have to go back on the breathing machine.  She is starting to cough which is extremely painful. 
This could be very repetitive and that is because it has taken me a long time to write.  Dr.s and nurse have been in and out all morning.  I will keep you updated, but things change all day so I will try and some it all up at the end of the day when all is quiet. 
Please pray for our whole family as Nathan is starting to really feel me not being home.  Ben has called up to talk to Kasi because he too is missing us.  We have a long way to go and this might be a little overwhelming for those who don't understand fully.  Aubree had a hard time seeing Kasi like this too and it is something that is in her memory.  It is good for growing purposes and for Kasi to know she is loved by all of them, at the same time hard to see such grown up stuff at the age of 12.  Ron is home with the three kids and that is hard on him too because he longs to be at Kasi's side.  And Kasi only will let me out of the room if she is sleeping and that is only when someone else is here to relieve me.  So it is a long process and we are working on making it as comfortable as we possibly can under the circumstance.
Thank you for all of your prayers and keep them coming!  This is a long haul!!!
Love to you all....