10:30 am – The doctor just came by and talked to Miriam. At first, the doctors thought that the Echocardiogram from yesterday was looking fine, and they continued looking for other reasons for these problems. However, after another series of virus tests, they’ve pretty much ruled out viruses, colds, and pnuemonia as the direct cause of her earlier trouble and her continuing high breathing rate (~70-90 bpm).

Obviously her earlier breathing attacks did have a lot to do with congestion, but she’s been pretty clear for a day or so now, and still breathing faster than they’d like. So they went back and looked closer at the Echo more carefully. Now they’re thinking that they see more pressure than normal in those re-arranged veins that are between the heart and lungs. Seemed like it was doing fine the last time we were in the hospital, but with these troubles they’re thinking that she may not be getting the flow she needs, and that’s building up a bit of fluid in the heart.

So she’s staying in the ICU for the weekend for observation in case she has another breathing fit, and then the doctors are thinking of doing a heart catheterization on Monday to see more of what’s going on.

6:30 pm – Emma has been sleeping quietly all afternoon. Her breathing rate seems to be down around 50-70 now (of course, she’s sleeping). So we’re in the hotel room to watch a movie to give Miriam a chance to be out of the hospital for a while. I’m planning on staying here until tomorrow afternoon, and then heading back for work on Monday.