Avery update

Yesterday morning the Pulmonologist (lung doctor) did another bronchoscopy and they found that a lot of the clots that were in Avery's lungs had been cleared-which they were happy about. Her lungs, however, still haven't seemed to improve from the other day. We continue to be hopeful that they will slowly continue to open. Her blood has also hemolyzed which means the red blood cells in her body are breaking down, and when we went into her room yesterday morning, she literally looked like the color of a beet. Needless to say, I was incredibly worried. I have never seen a human look that red before. So, they did a procedure where they pull the hemolyzed blood out, and put in new blood/plasma that hasn't been broken down yet. They have only done the procedure on about 4 kids before so I was a little nervous about how Avery would react, but she sailed through it like a champ. After the procedure was done, she looked a lot less red.

Today was a fairly quiet day for her. They're still really trying to open up her lungs. She's still on the lung/heart bypass machine and her kidneys are also still not working so she is on dialysis. We are told however, that kidneys usually recover. Right now our biggest concern is still with her lungs. Her heart actually seems to be working beautifully.

All I can say is that this little girl is not a quitter. She inspires us every day.