Faith's Place

Friday, December 12

Faith had to have another IV put in her head last night. It is for her Immunoglobulin replacement (IVIG) because that can't run with some of the other meds she gets through her Broviac and PICC line, and it has to run for 6 hours, so they can't just turn one of the others off while she gets that one.

Dr. Camath (not sure if that's how you spell it), the neonatologist who's got Faith for the next few weeks, came in to talk to me this morning and said the pneumothoraces (the air pockets in her chest) that Faith has are worse than they had been. She said she would talk to the surgeons and figure out what their plan would be, but that they would probably put Faith on her tummy for awhile to hopefully get the air out.

A little while later, Dr. Sandeval came in and said that when he was changing the dressings yesterday, he noticed that the holes where the chest tubes go into her are bigger, so he thinks that's where the air is getting in. So, he is going to sew those holes up so that they are tighter around the tubes and air can't get in anymore. Faith's drainage is down to virtually nothing, so he said they might potentially feed her this weekend! That makes me nervous, because getting the order in to the lab here for the screening the Milk Bank needs has taken all week, so I haven't had any milk tested yet! I am hoping I can get that blood drawn today, and maybe work something out with the ladies at the Milk Bank to get some milk tested ASAP so it will be ready when Faith is.

The photographer came in a little while ago and took pictures while I did some skimming. It really is kind of exciting that I am playing such a big role in instituting new policy here at the hospital. I think the coolest thing though is that more moms will find out now that this is an option, and maybe the doctors will stop telling moms that their babies can't have breastmilk when they have a chylothorax.

Anyway, that's it for the morning, I'll try to post again tonight probably with an update for the rest of the day.