Good News! Sorry for the late posts.

Jiliang is doing much better. I always love posting good news. The only bad thing is that she cries when I am not there; and I cannot sleep or eat in the room. Today, she sat up when the doctors did rounds in her room. She stretched, gave a big smile and went back to sleep. I heard that the doctors loved it and it made their day.
My mom came up around 9:30 or 10:00 a.m., and reported that she was awake. My mom laid with her, and Jiliang kissed her hand several times. I took some time to pack an overnight bag and food, since I figured I was going to be at the hospital for a while. Jiliang wanted to talk on the phone to me, so my mom let her say hi to me. She can't talk yet, but listened to me and didn't want to give the phone back. After I hung up, she was unconsolable. She cried hard, she cried soft. It was saddening for my mom and the nurse to endure. The nurse gave her a sedative, because her heart rate increased. No more talking on the phone with her, if I am not close by her.
The nurse also reported that she pulled out her feeding tube through her nose and her oxygen tube. Muntaz, her nurse, couldn't stop her in time. The doctor said that it could stay out if she tolerated taking her medicine and food orally. She drank some juice and had 2 bites of Jello.
When I arrived, she was sedated. :( I had to give her blood pressure medicine to her. She needs this medicine! That little stinker took it and held it in her cheek somewhere. She opened her mouth to drink water afterwards, and took a few sips. Then, all of the medicine went to her cheeks, making her resemble a chipmunk. That little stinkpot had all her medicine in her mouth. She held it and refused to swallow. The nurse said, "Let's see who wins," thinking I was surely going to win the battle. I pinched her nose shut, and then the nurse squeezed and pushed her cheeks. Jiliang started to squirt it out the sides of her cheeks and tried to dribble it down her neck. Jiliang won, but not for long. The feeding tube went back in her nose.
She had a lot of separation anxiety from me, despite the medicine torture I put her through. She curled up with me, placing her foot in between my knees, a leg over me, one arm around me, and her hand in mine. She had to make sure I wasn't going anywhere.
We had to change rooms later in the evening. We were spoiled to have a private room to ourselves, but the PCTU (Cardio-Thracic ICU) got a heart transplant baby, so they needed a private room for him or her. I am thankful for the private time we had for the last week and a half.
I told a nurse that Jiliang had pneumonia, and she thanked me for letting her know, but told me not to worry, because they take everything out of the room, including the curtains; and do a "transplant sterilization" of everything. I am fascinated about organ donations, and I need to take the time to sign up as an organ donor myself. That is such an amazing gift to bless someone with in the midst of sorrow.

I got to hold Jiliang tonight and rock her. She loved being rocked. One of the nurses even took pictures. :)
Jiliang is doing so well, but she is also so scared. She is afraid of being left, abandoned, and she is also afraid of every poke, procedure, stitch. For all I know, she may think that this is her new life. That breaks my heart. The thing that really breaks my heart is that through all of this scariness and medical torture, she still looks to me and trusts me. She trusted me today when I held her down - to keep her from moving - when they took out her pericardial tube around her heart today and stitched the hole back up.
In the midst of everything today, I knew that she didn't understand why all of this was happening. What must she think? She came in on surgery day feeling better than ever. We told her not to be afraid, and she woke up full of tubes, in pain, fighting sedation, and fighting sickness as well.
Therefore, I asked for a translator tonight to reassure her that Mom, Dad and T.J. loved her. I need her to feel safe and reassured that we want her to get better, so we can take her back home; we are never leaving her; we love her; she is here to get better and go home.
The translator was our wonderful Alice, who we had the first time, back in March - for our first cardiology appointment. She remembered us. Unfortunately, Jiliang was not fully awake. She was still under the sedatives from the pericardial tube that was removed. It wasn't supposed to last that long, but it did. I really hope that she remembers what Alice said.
She needs to take her medicine for her pulmonary hypertension. We can take out her feeding tube if she obediently takes it. We used Alice to explain. She wasn't due for oral medicine until 9:00 a.m., and I didn't want to just use water. I wanted something that didn't taste good. Poor baby. This is important medicine though, not optional, so it had to be a teachable moment. One of the nurses suggested Pedialyte. Yeah! Jiliang hated it. She made the sourest face I have seen, and once again, held it in. Alice told her to swallow. She opened her mouth, and I could see her holding it like a dam behind her teeth, mouth agape, just waiting for me to cup my hand and let her spit it out. Alice told her to swallow and she could have juice. She did it!
When I have a chance to give her the next dose of pulmonary pressure medicine, I want to show her a tube and a syringe, and let her choose to drink it. I am sure that she will make the right choice and then we can take out that darn feeding tube in her nose.
By the way, she is almost weaned from her Oxygen. She still has one chest tube, sedatives, Morphine, and a main line for taking blood. Every day she has less and less medicines, tubes and gadgets, which is one step closer to her being in a regular room and then going home. I am hoping and praying that she is in a regular room by Tuesday or Wednesday. Then, I can sleep and have meals in her room and never have to leave her, except to shower, of course.
I can't wait to get her home. We miss her so much. She has a strong will at home too, but in a more sweet, dainty, subtle and sneaky way. I miss my girl's smile and laugh; but I will settle her her stable health right now. I loved holding and rocking her today; and I also loved it when she whispered "Mama". Babysteps!

May God Bless Jiliang and heal her, so that she may come home to us soon.
God Bless you all this Sunday evening. Thanks for the prayers. I feel so blessed by your compassionate hearts!
Thanks,
Jill :)