Friday morning update

Sorry no time to update on Thursday. Maria continues to make slight improvements. Her heart rate is still high and BP low but they are working to slowly correct everything. She is strong and doing well overall. The doctor is taking things very slowly allowing her body time to adjust.

The current thought is that her body went so long before the first surgery in China that it became very comfortable working with the improper blood flow. When they corrected the remaining blood flow this week the lungs really did not like it. The lungs are becoming happier according to the doctors.

Yesterday Maria had many periods of being very alert. She would hear our voices and open her eyes. She responded to questions by nodding her head. They are having a very hard time keeping her sedated. She is a tough child to keep knocked out and if they give her enough drugs to put her out it impacts her vitals. So we walk that fine line between needing her to sleep and not move and not impacting her vitals in a bad way.

The hope is to close her chest this morning. If this happens then hopefully tomorrow we can get off the ventilator and get her back closer to speaking. It frustrates her that she can not speak to us.

Please keep praying for her to heal and improve. Also pray for an 11 year old boy Zack. He got infection from a cut and his body has gone septic. He only has a 60/40 chance of living through this. He has a strong Christian family and our hearts break for them. He is in the bed across from Maria so we see his family all day long. We are so blessed and thank God for blessing us with our children and with good health. We know that God is in control of Maria's situation and that he has brought her this far. We remain faithful and celebrate the little victories each day.