God's perfect timing

   So we have some answers and a rather big, potential, blessing.  The bacteria in the fluid came back as E. Coli.  E. Coli is a very common bacteria in the body, when it is found in the intestines.  This bacteria was found in the abdomen fluid, not where it was supposed to be.  There is two possibilities either, the fluid needle nicked the intestines during the procedure or she could have E.Coli in the fluid, all along.  This could have been really bad and could have made her seriously ill if we had not caught it, especially with her being a CHD child.  Since, she is not acting sick we caught it super early, if it was always there, before it could have caused any problems.  Kylie is receiving antibiotics to counteract the infection and it will keep us here for about a week.  The doctors have tested the sensitivity and are going to switch us to a more powerful antibiotic than what we are on now, but thank God they caught it.  Just another example that God is looking out for our little one.
    We need to figure out where the fluid is coming from and what we are going to do with it.  We had two main suspects, the liver and the heart.  The liver has been ruled out so that just leaves the heart and we may have some evidence implicating the suspect in the crime, and I didn't even get to play with my sunglasses, while shooting off quirky one liners, over songs played by THE WHO :-).  During our third surgery, the Fontane, the lungs were opened up to 100% blood flow, and that could put a lot of strain on to them.  So, as a kind of a pressure relief valve, the surgeons left a small hole, called a FENESTRATION in the heart.  If the pressure got to be too much some of the blood could escape out the hole and give the lungs a break.  It would leave Kylie's saturation a bit lower but it wouldn't over tax the heart.  Well oddly enough, over the last few months Kylie's oxygen saturation has been 96-100.  Also, given the fact that they can't find the fenestration on the ECHO, leads us to believe that it has closed.  We knew that it would, either, close on it own or we have to go in and shut ourselves.  By "WE" I mean our cardiologist, by way of a heart cath.  Interesting bit of trivia, we pushed out the fluid collection and analyzing because she wasn't acting sick and her saturation's were so good, but her saturation's were so good because, supposedly, the fenestration was closed, and the fenestration closing is, possibly, what is causing the fluid build up.  FUN STUFF eh?  The best I can come up with (and if you listen carefully, you will hear the sound of every cardiologist groaning because of how bad an example this is), is that the heart was like a person trying to exercise by lifting a weight that was too heavy for them and the fluid is all the sweat pouring off of him.  Not very scientific but it is the best I can come up with :-).
    So we have a plan of attack that has a couple of different points.  Point one, we have Kylie on two diuretics three times a day, to try and get some of the fluid off of her belly.  We are weighing her daily and measuring her belly and we have noticed that she has loss about a pound.  Point two, we are giving her the antibiotics to counteract the E.Coli and keep her from getting sick.  It is a course that has to be given over the course of a week, so we are here until, at least this Saturday.  Point three, we are scheduled to do a sedated echo today to get a better look at the heart and the fenestration  They did an echo last Saturday in the E.R., but Kylie had been through so much on Friday and Saturday that she was less then agreeable, she wasn't throwing a fit but she was tired of being poked and prodded.  So, they are going to give her something to help her relax and get a better look at the heart.  The only issue is that she isn't going for the echo until 2pm which is soon enough that she can't have any real food just clear fluids, but we didn't find this out until it was too late for her to be able to eat anything solid. This is going to be hard because she hasn't had anything solid to eat since dinner last night. Please pray 2pm comes quickly or at least the sedation.
    The other question is where do we go from here, if the fenestration is closed.  Do we go in during a heart cath and open it back up.  Two problems with that is, they can only do it after the antibiotics has run it course, because they do not want to introduce the E. Coli anywhere else and, secondly what if the fenestration closes again, where will be then.  The other option is to just put her on diuretics for a year or so and let the heart catch up and get stronger that way, it may be the less invasive, but we also have a history of kidney stones that were brought on by diuretics before, and those bring on problems of their own.  Though on the other hand, I guess the BIG question is....what happens if they do the sedated ECHO and the fenestration is still OPEN and they missed it.  Then we are back to square one on what is causing the fluid.  Either way we will know more today, I believe.