12:24PM  Tia perked up yesterday in the afternoon and got out of bed when her BFF's Amanda and Channing came to visit her.  The brought her a beautiful sign for the front door of her hospital room with a photo of Tia and her new friends of the Dallas Cowboys.  In the playroom, the girls did some arts and crafts, played games and visited with other patients.  After some rest time we had some other friends visit and had a picnic dinner in her hospital room.  Tia hasn't wanted to eat very much yet, but Angel Hair pasta from her favorite local Italian restaurant interested her enough to warrant a few bites.  She had a good comfortable night, however her O2 sats fell again while she was sleeping. This morning we got the news that she definitely has a pneumothorax, which is a collection of air between the lung and the chest wall.   Her pulmonologist made another trip out this morning to let us know that she needs to be up and moving, but needs to take it easy when she is walking around and coughing.  She is in a tough spot, she needs to walk to help her belly feel better, but not exhaust herself.  She needs to cough so she doesn't get pneumonia, but not cough so hard that she makes the pneumothorax worse.  Best case scenario, the pneumothorax will absorb into her body.  Worst case scenario she will have to have a procedure to release the air pocket.  We are praying for the air to absorb, for her belly to feel better and for Tia's appetite to return. 

7:28AM  Tia finally got some rest last night, she slept in 2 hour increments from 11:00 until 5:00.  Her nurse was very quiet each time she came in and kept the disruptions as gentle as possible.  Tia's Oxygen Saturation in her blood (O2 sat) dropped several times last night in the 80% (she was 98-100% in the ICU).  The 80's are not dangerous, however the fact that there were trends of the numbers dropping are concerning.   At 5:00 we brought her down to Radiology for a x-rays of her chest to look at her lungs.  The x-rays didn't show any fluid around her lungs, which is good, but the x-ray cannot pick up any small collapses in the lung.  The doctor that just came in said that he thinks she may be experiencing small collapses.  Tia was excited to hear that she was on TV last night and wants to see the video clip.  She tried to wake up about 20 minutes ago but she fell right back to sleep.  Poor kid is really tired

Meet Tia's new friend Herby the Elf, who she Skyped with today from the North Pole!  Tia got the great news that she made the NICE LIST!!

11:47AM CST It has been an eventful morning!  Tia had her heart pace wires removed as well as her two chest tubes (she knows them as big straws).  It was a difficult procedure for her.  The team at Children's Medical Center did a fantastic job listening to her wishes of going slow, giving her information and stopping for breaks when she asked for them.  She has been moved to a new room on the regular Cardiac Floor instead of ICU.  Her chest x-ray showed some 'gunk' in her lungs this morning so we are going to try to get her up and walking around.  We don't want her having a repeat of the pneumonia that we know so well!  Pastor Kory from our awesome church, Argyle United Methodist Church brought Tia a prayer shawl.  We all said a prayer together asking God for a quick recovery.  Tia is resting comfortably right now with lots of pain meds on board.

9:55PM Tia still hasn't slept much.  This evening her nurse (with the assistance of TeamTia) took off  the dressing on her her chest incision and changed the dressing on her chest tubes.  She was very brave.  Her poor sensitive skin really bothered her in trying to get the Tegaderm off.  We have learned that the keys to a painless process involving the removal of Tagaderm is to 1)  use the pink adhesive removal stick 2) go S-L-O-W and let the adhesive removal soak in and work.  Her blood pressure has come down slightly but it is still higher than we'd like it to be.  It seems like she is responding well to the BP medication she is now on.  She isn't mobile yet, however she is breathing room air and is able to take some pills.  She still has IV's in both hands.  The antibiotic burns as it goes through the IV. It's beneficial that she has two IV's so we can switch off half-way through the treatment each time she receives the antibiotic.  She just took more pain med and she is finally sleeping.  Hopefully she will rest peacefully tonight.

Here is a great video that the Dallas Cowboys put together from their visit today at Children's Medical Center Dallas. There are lots of shots of Tia!  
http://www.dallascowboys.com/multimedia/videos/Cowboys_Players_Visit_Local_Hospitals_/6b2103a0-c3fd-458e-8f38-5b2b7a30cc16

Posted on DallasCowbCowboys Bring Holiday Joy During Annual Hospital Visits
December 17, 2012 05:14 PM | Nick Eatman

Photo Gallery: Cowboys Hospital Visits >>

DALLAS - For the last few weeks, the Cowboys have several people smiling over their recent success. And there were grins to go around after Sunday's huge win over the Steelers.

But those smiles don't even compare to the ones the Cowboys generated Monday morning with their annual hospital visits to children in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Head coach Jason Garrett gave his players most of the day off following the 27-24 win, but only after their visits to local hospitals, which provided tons of much-needed cheer to some ill children and their families.

The players, along with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, split up into groups of four, visiting three hospitals in Dallas and one in Fort Worth.

Under the guidance of Mrs. Gene Jones, this is the 24th year of the annual visits.

"It's great to be able to come out here, be away from football, be away from life itself and come out here and bless kids," running back DeMarco Murray said. "It's a special gift that God blessed us with, so to be able to come back and share these moments with kids is awesome."

Obviously, the Cowboys have been dealing with heavy hearts here lately, with the tragic passing of teammate Jerry Brown. And the entire country has mourned the devastating deaths of innocent children, teachers and administrators in Connecticut.

With all of the saddening events taking place, quarterback Tony Romo said moments like Monday can put things in the right perspective.

"My heart goes out to all the people in Connecticut and the families. It's a tragedy," Romo said. "It just shows there is some evil in the world. There's nothing you can say that's going to make anything better. It just makes you appreciate what you have and the blessings that do come to us in life. We're not guaranteed anything. We have to take every moment and we know how precious it is with the people we love."

Romo and his wife Candice had their first child this past April, a boy named Hawkins. The quarterback has now been a part of 10 of these hospital visits, but said this one was different.

"Yeah, as a father it changes you a little bit, with your sense of how much you really care," Romo said. "You don't realize how much you'll care about your son or daughter until you have them. But coming here is always fun. We're just lucky to be able to make some families and children smile. That's what it's all about."

While there were many kids and families that melted these players' hearts, one in particular received lots of love at Children's Medical Center in Dallas.

Young Tia Hackett, a seven-year-old whose entire extended family was on hand for support before open-heart surgery, lit up the room with her smile and infectious personality.

Since she was three weeks old, Tia has been battling issues with her heart. The procedure Monday to repair her pulmonary valve, was actually scheduled for early in the morning with Dr. Joseph Forbess. But it got pushed back to noon, giving her and her family more time to visit.

As it turned out, that was the exact time in which the Cowboys showed up to visit, giving her and her family the opportunity to meet and greet about 20 players, including the likes of Tyron Smith, Dan Bailey, Miles Austin, Murray and, of course, Romo.

"She's adorable. She had personality," Romo said of Tia. "We'll be praying for her as she goes through surgery today."

The family, which lives in Argyle, Texas, were all in matching pink shirts that said "Team Tia" on the front and then had a Disney-themed message on the back of Tia's favorite princess, Rapunzel, from the movie Tangled.

"This has been a tough time for all our entire family," said Tia's mother Nicole Hackett. "There's been a lot of stress. But to come here today and meet the Cowboys ... it's just been phenomenal."

The family has created a website, teamtia.org, for her full story and updates through her journey.

2:52PM CST Tia is a tired girl!  Her rough night caught up with her and she has been pretty sleepy all day.  Some good news to report: Tia had the IV line in her neck and the one in her foot removed.  She had a couple of other tubes taken away.  Her blood pressure is still high and she has been given new medicine to help lower it.  Her temperature is slightly elevated, based on her normal lizard-like cool baseline temp.  We are worried about an infection because of her poor immune system.  However, her blood counts look good and she is drinking small amounts of water and popsicles.   

5:41AM  Tia has been up most of the night.  She complained about pain initially, but was given morphine and strong ibuprofen.  She really really really wants to drink water.  Unfortunately, her blood pressure has been high all night and her nurse isn't comfortable letting her drink too much in case the blood pressure issue gets worse.  Sometimes high blood pressure is an indicator of pain.  Luckily, at 7 years old she can tell us if she is hurting.  She just had her third dose of morphine since she initially woke up at 11:00PM.  We're praying for comfort for Tia and that her blood pressure comes down.

11:21PM Tia is awake!  She opened her eyes and shook her head to respond when we asked her if she was ready to wake up.  The CVICU staff at Children's Medical Center Dallas was excellent!  Once she was fully awake, they immediately prepared to extubate her (remove the breathing tube).  Of course, she helped by following the directions they gave her and it was a piece of cake!  She really wants some water, but her tummy is not ready to accept anything and it will be very painful for her if she vomits.  So we have to wait four more hours until princess can have a beverage....here's hoping she sleeps for another four hours starting now.  We thank God for getting us through another milestone.