Home Again

We are home. Elyza got her G-tube placed on Friday. Elyza is hurting a little from her surgery, but she is a trooper. Inspite of it, she is still playing and being playful for the most part.
Well, I'm going to go help Patrice get some pain medication for Elyza.

G-Tube Surgery and fundraising

Well, it has been a while. Shortly after the last post, we all came down with a stomach virus, naturally, Elyza stopped eatting again. We got over it and we were just getting back to helping Elyza eat when we all came down with the H1N1 (swine flu). That made her not want to eat as well.
So, after working hard to help Elyza eat and trying to avoid another surgery and hospital stay, we have pretty much arived at the end of the allotted time for Elyza's NG Tube. Now we are trying to prepare ourselves for her Gt Feeding Tube Placement. We are both feeling stressed and somewhat disappointed that we weren't able to get her to eat on her own again.
In preparation for this, Patrice is selling some things that she made. You may go to FamilyArts to checkout the things she is selling.

Eating

Hello, it has been a while since we have updated this blog.
Elyza is doing really well. She did really well with her oral feeds today. She took about two Oz at her morning and noon feedings. She took a little less at her four pm feed, and at her eight pm feed it was less than an ounce. But, we are excited that she excepted four oral feeds in a roll. She also played with her bottle on her own. We had her play on the floor, and put her bottle next to her to see what she would do, and she found it and started experimenting with it, and putting it in her mouth. We hope that she continues to increase her oral intake.

Finally home

Elyza was discharged today. She is doing wel, we hope that we can get her to eat. That is all that is left. Getting her to eat has been quite a challenge. Hopefully we can get her off the feeding tube soon.

Leeking Again

early this morning, the nurse noticed that Elyza was leeking spinal fluid again. Nural surgery was informed, and they came to check it out. They decided to take Elyza to the Operating room. They redid the stitches and they found the problem.
The skin was forming a tunnel between her old shunt sight and her external drain sight; liquid was getting under the skin, and creating pressure. The skin was also kind of jagged around the incision which helped to create pockets for the fluid. But, they hopefully fixed that up. The doctor has put her on antibiotics for the next fourty-eight hours to prevent infection.
They said that we would beable to pick her up for twenty-four hours. They said it would probably be better for us, if we just went home. So, we are in Provo tonight, trying to get the apartment ready for her. They might discharge her on Sunday.

Spinal Fluid Leek

Patrice's mom and dad came to visit this evening. It was nice to be able to visit and we got to hold Elyza. While grandpa was holding his granddaughter, we noticed that her head was wet. The nurse looked at her head, then she contacted nural surgery. One of the doctors came to look at the wet spot. She decided to try adding some stitches. They are going to keep a close watch on it. Hopefully it will be ok.9

Shunt Replacement

Elyza got her shunt put back in today. she is doing pretty good. The doctor is going to keep her in the hospital for a couple of days to make sure everything is ok. She is suppose to lie flat on her back for the next twenty-four hours. They are going to get her on a regular feeding schedule.

Out of ICU

Elyza has been transfered back to the infant Unit. She is doing really well. Now the focuss is to internalize her shunt and getting her off the feading tube. Then, she gets to go home.

 

ICU

As you all know, Elyza has been throwing up since last Friday. She started acting less playful Tuesday evening. She was very serious when we went to see her yesterday morning. She was also very cold and clammy all day. Afew hours ago, about seven thirty PM, She through up again. Shortly after that, Elyza started breathing strange. Her heart started beating strangely also. The nurse came in to check on Elyza because of the strange readings. Elyza started going blue, so the Nurse gave her oxygen. She looked a little better. But, then she through up again during her oxygen treatment. The rest happened so quickly that it was hard to take it all in. It seems that one second she was getting help from the nurse and the next, they were calling out a code blue and doctors and nurses were running in to the room. Elyza's heart dropped to about fifty-five beats per minute. They did blood work on her and they determined that her electrolytes were down to 102 and her potassium level was up to 8.5. They want her electrolytes up to 135 and her potassium down to 3.5.

 

They gave her some medicine to help her potassium level and some calcium to help with her electrolytes. after that, she was transferred to the ICU.

 

The last results we got, her electrolytes her up to 118 and her potassium was down to 6.3. Her heart is back to normal, and she is breathing on her own.

still nautias

Elyza did ok today, until this evening. She started throwing up around seven. So, the doctor is going to give her a new medication that will help her digest her food better. We hope that she will respond to the medication well.