Thanks to my new residency rotation, I have thankfully returned to being at my daughter's bedside during the days! And already the rewards are being reaped in her smiles (see the photos)! Over the next month, I am on a lighter rotation that will involve lots of self-study and lecture-based learning. If I manage my time well, it should allow me to be with Elizabeth and Sara more each day. We're all looking forward to that.
As a result, I got to sit in on The Team's Morning Rounds, and heard some things I like: It's time to stop the anti-fungal medication because her urine has stopped growing fungus. It's time to stop the latest antibiotic because nothing came of the fever she had several days ago. Only 5 more days to go of the other antibiotics that were started over 6 weeks ago. We're all big fans of simplifying. We also discussed some bigger events coming up: Tomorrow morning, she will get sedated again and have a second MRI of her brain. This will hopefully show that the bleeding around her brain is healing and not getting larger while on blood thinners. If she isn't tolerating feeds better by Monday, we'll probably have a longer tube placed to put the feeding directly into her intestine (it uses the hole Elizabeth already has, but the part inside is longer).
Our wonderful pediatrician stopped by to say hello and she began preparing us mentally for the intensive medical needs Elizabeth is likely to have once coming home. It was both exciting and frightening to begin envisioning that day! The Occupational therapist came by to review the exercises to help Elizabeth suck and swallow. We didn't get to practice them though- the photos below were taken during the few minutes she spent awake. We were too enthralled by her smiling to worry about exercises!
Pray for:
-Insight for the those working with Elizabeth's eating issues: to spot the problems and have wisdom on how to treat them
-Diligence for me as I have more unstructured time to organize
-Good news from her MRI tomorrow morning
-Healing for any damage to her vocal cords or swallowing nerves
-Quiet from the patient next to her (a 24 year old who has a strained relationship with his mother and girlfriend and spent lots of tonight fighting with them)
Matt and Sara
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