Day 30

When I got to the hospital this morning, there was a bit of bad news to be told. Brianna started having seizures again. She had had one just before 8:00. And had a drop in heart rate about 8:10 when I was there. Spoke with Dr Davis, the last Phenobarbital check was the 30th, they are going to run another one today. He’s not so sure they were really seizures as she is very calm now. Going to hold off assuming that it’s because of them stopping Dilantin, as its too soon for the medication to have worn off completely. I’m just getting back to work at 10:30 & she didn’t show any signs of seizures from 8:10-10:20, so that is a good sign. He also said that if all goes well with the surgery & she continues to be stable (aside from this morning) he suspects she will be able to come home within a week and a half or so.

Dr Jolley came & spoke with Kevin & I about the G-Tube. He agrees with the neonatologists in that her feeding issue is probably long term (months to a year at least) & that the G-Tube is really the best thing for her. He also said that sometimes having the tube through the nose can be a factor in her not swallowing, because the muscle in the esophagus contracts & can cause issues.

They are going to do an Upper GI at 11:00 this morning. This puts fluid down her throat & they take x-ray pictures as it goes down. This will show them if there are other issues that may be causing her not to suck/swallow, like a blockage in the esophagus. He was very informative & we have a meeting scheduled for Noon tomorrow to discuss in detail what her needs are & what side affects may pertain directly to her because of her condition.

If everything checks out ok she will have the surgery Thursday morning. The surgery is considered major & she will be under general anesthesia. The surgery takes about 1 ½ to 2 hours & then she will spend 2 hours in surgery recovery before going back to NICU.

We did not attempt feedings this morning because of the Upper GI test. She will not be fed until after the test.