4th Birthday Photo Session

4th Birthday Photo Session

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

You Want To Do What?!?


They put in a new IV into Andi's arm...much better spot than her head.  Seems we've been in the hospital too long, as I recognized the lady whom inserted the IV today was part of the ambulance transport team whom escorted Andi from her birth hospital to OHSU, in the beginning of June.  LaDonna.  Yep, we've been here way too long.  Duh!  They inserted the IV so they could start giving her lasix dosages via IV, as it is thought that the antibiotics might be making it hard for her body to absorb the lasix, and thus, make it not as useful.  The bean has not released as much fluid as she needs to and is still laboring on her breathing.  Yesterday, they gave her an extra dose of the diuretic through her G-Tube, but it didn't seem to work as well as it should, therefore, they're switching to IV.  Right now, she's got a urine collecting bag on (encased in a diaper) ... trying to get a sample so they can test her urine for the infection.  They've also ran her blood work today and according to the attending, it looks "really promising."  Her daily chest xray shows improvement in the sense that perhaps her lungs aren't infected, just irritated.  The antibiotics she's on are to work on both the UTI and the lungs.  They have to take precautionary measures - just in case.

They put a bandage around her G-Tube, a netting material to help stabilize the device.  It's been leaking, which apparently is a normal thing while the area heals.  Andi's was looking like it was ready to fall out or pull out, so they wanted to stabilize it until the GI team could look at it.  They said it was fine and that enough time had passed that it should be okay.  In a few weeks, we are supposed to switch from the monster cord with the 3-prong doohickey (I believe that is a medical term) to a "button" ... haven't a clue what that really is, but they say it will lay more flush with her skin and we'll just 'attach' the feeding cord to it.

I've asked the nurses to start using the cloth tape on Andi's face.  Yesterday, I watched her pull the O2 tube and thus, rip the tape off her face.  The nurse replaced it with two layers of tape, and within the hour, she yanked it off.  OUCH!  I don't care if she sweats eighty rolls of the cloth tape off, it's less icky than the heavy adhesive clear 'duct' tape.

She's been a bit fussy today. A bit sweet today.  A bit sleepy.  A bit wide awake.  She's working hard to breathe. She coughs sometimes.  She cries... and more often than not, she gives a look at the Dr's and Nurses like the one featured above that I interpret as a very sarcastic, "you want to do what?!"

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