Craziness!

It has been a busy couple of days in Room 6518; so busy that I really haven't had a chance to blog! Rebekah has gone up and down in her oxygen requirements, but is currently down from 2 liters to 0.5 liters today. That's part of the good news. The other good news is that the CBC and CRP were within normal ranges, and the mycoplasma, RSV and flu tests all came back negative.

My teddy, my dolly, my tubes, my cords and me!

As far as the g-tube goes, feeding with it has been great! We have not seen any of the swelling and pain that Rebekah had initially when she was admitted two weeks ago. The bad news is that for some reason the site around the tube started leaking today. We're not sure what caused it or why it's happening. The surgeon is supposed to be back this afternoon or in the morning to take a look at it again. We just can't seem to stay away from Dr. Abrams! :)

This morning, we had a great student nurse from USC - Greenville (sorry all you Clemson fans!). He and his wife have four girls almost the same ages as our four boys, so we spent some time swapping kid stories. We have really enjoyed meeting all of the student nurses that we've had in the last two weeks.

Mommy says I'm really cute!

Now for the lungs.....After reaching an all-time high of 2 liters of oxygen yesterday, Rebekah's nurse was able to reduce the amount of oxygen overnight to 0.5 liters. This is due in large part, I think, to the addition of Orapred (an oral steroid used to open constricted airways). Within a few hours of Rebekah's first Orapred dose we saw her oxygen sats climb into the upper 80's and even 90 for a while. In addition to the Orapred, Rebekah is now getting chest PT (where they tap on her chest with a little rubber cup) every 8 hours and nebulizer treatments with Xopenex every 4 hours. We are trying to maximize the effectiveness of the Xopenex in Rebekah's system and not go too long between treatments, because 4-5 hours after a treatment is when she seems to need more oxygen.

Rebekah's lungs have sounded much worse today than they ever have. The respiratory therapist today let me borrow his stethoscope, and I could very easily distinguish the wheezing in Rebekah's lungs. It would have been incredibly hard not to hear it! She has had a very tight, painful-sounding cough today and has been somewhat irritable this afternoon. Dr. Darby reviewed the chest x-ray from yesterday, and it, too was a little worse, particularly in the right lung. There was some streaking of the right lung, which can (but not always!) indicate early pneumonia. The atelectasis (collapse of the lung) in her lower left lung was still there, but no worse than it was on Saturday. If you remember, the right lung is the one that does not technically function, so we are working hard to keep it from getting worse.

For tonight, we are going to continue the medications and breathing treatments and try to keep Rebekah comfortable. Most colds and viruses peak between days 4-6, and tomorrow will be day 6. So we are hoping that by Thursday we start to see some improvement. For now, I will hold and snuggle my baby a little more and enjoy the time I'm getting to spend with her.

Update: Since finishing this post, the surgeon and his entourage came by to check Rebekah's g-tube. His opinion is that all of the forceful coughing Rebekah has done today has just forced some discharge to leak around her tube site. So, it doesn't look like this should be anything to worry about unless it gets much worse or continues after she is over her cold. Good news!

Nancy