Are you ready for some football?

First day of the 2012 season today!  I woke up at 6am to hang out with Harper for a little before I went up to school for practice.  I gave her a pep-talk and let her know that I was going be pretty busy for the next 3 months, but not too busy to spend some quality time with her. She was very understanding and didn't seem to mind when I left for Day 1 of two-a-days!
I went up to practice for the first hour this morning, but came back to talk with the doctors.  Her fluid output had increased since they adjusted her chest tube, which shows that she was still producing chyle and it was accumulating in her chest.  So, the volume of her formula got reduced significantly and the dosage of meds got bumped up this evening.  Once again, this is going to be a long game of trial and error until they find the right ratios that will help her heal.  The doctor also mentioned that he is going to talk with a cardiothoracic (ct) surgeon to see what the next step in treatment may be and also what options there may be down the road for surgery.  It sounds like that surgery is still an option that is weeks away, but is getting closer if she does not start to respond a little better soon.  Hopefully, the increased dosage of meds will get things moving back in the right direction.
I made it back to practice in time for our team meeting and on field afternoon practice.  It was nice getting out of the hospital and running around a little with the players - It was nice to lose myself in football and not think too much about everything that is going on back here.
This evening, we got to open up Harper's isolette (her box)!  It was nice to be able to lean down and kiss her on the forehead.  This was only our second chance to do that in the past two weeks.  We won't be able to hold her for a while longer, but this is the next best thing, right now.  Even Uncle Larry came by and got to spend some time with Harp!
So, we will see over the next couple days how she begins to respond to the new treatments.  Wish her luck!
Thanks to everyone for all of the love and support - Karen and I greatly appreciate it and we know that Harper does, too.  She is resting up now so that she can come cheer on the Hawks this Fall on Friday nights...
Are you ready for some football?  I know Harper is!  =W=