Cassie continued to remain stable. Today marks 19 days since her original valve replacement surgery. Overnight Cassie was able to get 8-9 hours of rest and reduce her blood presser medication. She continued to use the ventilator throughout the night to allow her body some rest. This morning she once again passed the Respiratory team’s “stress test” and the ventilator was turned off. She remains intubated but is continuing to breathe on her own. Three of the 6 chest tubes that remain in her will be removed today. This is because they are no longer taking out any liquid from her body. All 3 tubes on the left side of her chest will continue to stay in-tact until the fluid stops flowing from these as well.

Cassie is scheduled to take her 11th trip to the OR tomorrow where the ENT team is planning to perform a temporary tracheostomy. This surgery is required as she doesn’t have enough strength to protect her throat (e.g. coughing or clearing her throat). She continues to remain on dialysis to help cleanse her blood at a faster than normal rate. However, her kidney function has dramatically slowed down. Sonography confirmed that her kidneys are still functioning, but the ICU team has concern for her future state kidney functionality.

At this point the demarcation in her left leg has stopped, and there is no demarcation above her left knee. Cassie is also scheduled to take her 12th trip to the OR on Monday (5/5) to clean out the wounds in her left leg, ensure there is no infection, and redress the wound vacs.

ICU team’s goals for the day are to continue her fluid offload (targeting 1 liter of fluid offload per day), let her breathe without the support of the ventilator, increase the angle that she can sit up (45 degrees is as far as she’s gone), and monitor her usage of blood pressers. The family appreciates the continual thoughts and prayers as Cassie continues her fight.