Fri 01/09/09 - - A Lateral Move

The first night in the cardiac unit was not too bad.
Ava was fussy for only a little bit and slept through most of the night.

Though we were told on Thursday that the CorPak was correctly placed in the intestines, the morning x-ray showed that it was coiled at the base of Ava's stomach.

It was decided that when the upper GI test was to be performed later that morning that they would use fluroscopy to help advance it.

Ava's weight as of this morning was 3.5 kilograms. On 12/12/08 during the pre-surgery consultation Ava weighed 3.3 kilograms.

Morning rounds revealed that Ava's blood counts were low and that she would need a transfusion. The sound of a transfusion gave Teresa and I an uneasy feeling, however, we knew it was a necessary part of the recovery process. We consented.

One concern that Teresa had and brought up to the cardiac therapy nurse was that the unbandaged portion of Ava's wound appeared to start opening again. Both of us were concerned because any open entry into the body could be a source of infection and her immune system has been through enough already.

The cardiac therapy nurse cleaned her wound and replaced the bandage. Overall, the wound is healing nicely and it was decided that the dressing should be changed every three days.

Today was also another moving day as we were moved from a standard two-patient hospital room to a section in a pod in the same unit. This was done because it was discovered that Ava's roomie had an upper respiratory infection prior to being admitted to the unit and was still exhibiting some of the symptoms. In the pods, there is a stricter emphasis on germ-free. We were promised a standard room as soon as one freed up as the plan is to be in the hospital for about another month according to the Infectious Disease doctor.

In the afternoon, Ava was taken down to radiology for the upper GI test, which still showed that Ava was still not emptying her stomach at an efficient level. While discussing the previous tests Teresa pointed out that Reglan, which is used to speed up the emptying of the stomach, was administered immediately prior to the first GI test - - which is why it probably emptied so fast compared to the gastric emptying examination where she only emptied her stomach at a 2% rate.

The radiologist decided to manually maneuver the CorPak into Ava's intestines. With much patience (Ava was not happy and made it difficult), they were successful. Placement was verified again and Ava was cleared to resume formula feeds.

Ava was exhausted from all of the tests, so she slept most of the evening. The blood transfusion was carried out and she was started on a low amount of continuous feeds.