Day 36

Brianna is doing great! She has only had a drop in oxygen/heart rate ONCE since BEFORE surgery! It happened last night just after they inserted a new IV, so they are relating it to that. They started giving her medication through the G-tube last night. They have also taken her off of the Dilantin & resumed Topomax. They substituted the pain medication she was on with Tylenol & she is tolerating that just fine.

I spoke with Dr Davis last night & I asked when it looked like she might be able to come home if she tolerates feedings & doesn’t have any more drops in heart rate/oxygen…he said “we hope within 7-10 days.”

Dr Jolley (surgeon) was there when I got there this morning. He is still very pleased with the progress that she is making. They are starting her on Pedialite today. She will be fed every 3 hours & the first 4 feedings will be 20 cc’s, then they will give her 40 cc’s twice. If that goes well, they will start giving her breast milk & will gradually increase her feedings back up to 85 cc’s.

Kevin & I will also be meeting with Dr Brennan today or tomorrow, to discuss other possibilities that could be causing the seizures. Speaking of seizures, she didn’t have anything but mild twitching of her wrist when I was there this morning (since Topomax was started again!) We are pending the results of the Phenobarbital level check. Want to make sure that doesn’t drop again.

The only disturbing thing this morning, was there was nowhere else to put her IV (hands & feet have been over-poked!) So they had to shave part of her head & put a short-perk there L. She won’t be getting any medication through the IV so it shouldn’t cause any bruising like it did last time. They did however save the hair for me to put in her baby book! I joked with the nurses & said they were just trying to make her look more like her daddy!