Tuesday Update

As I tweeted yesterday morning, the GI team decided that Grace needs to be on TPN for a full week with nothing by mouth. Her new GI doctor (they rotate from week to week) seems to think that this calici virus can take such a toll on the GI system that it takes more than a couple of days of bowel rest to heal. This automatically means that we will be here one more entire week, at least, because once they start introducing food again (Friday or Saturday) it will take a few days to see how she tolerates it. If all goes well, probably the earliest she could leave the hospital would be early- to mid-week next week. While we would love to go home sooner, I was actually glad that they decided to give her gut such a long time to rest, given all that she has been through so far. I want her to be completely well before we take her home!

This morning, we were informed that she has c. diff, which is a bacteria found in your intestines. She was negative for it last week but positive this week, which means she probably picked it up since she got to the hospital. At this point, they do not want to treat her with antibiotics because antibiotics can cause gut issues, like diarrhea. They are not even sure that the c. diff is causing her any problems, as sometimes people can have it but be asymptomatic. So, they are taking a wait-and-see approach with that. Please pray that the c. diff would not affect her in any way.

Since Grace got sick 18 days ago, her weight has been declining. Obviously, it is normal to lose some weight when you get a bug, but she was small to begin with. (At her 6 month appointment she was 14 pounds, 2 ounces. We are not sure what she weighed just before she got sick, as her 9 month well visit was scheduled for this week.) She is down to around 12 pounds now, which is way off the charts for a 9-month-old. This morning, the doctor said that he does not expect her to bulk up a lot while she is on TPN, but we hope that she will not continue to lose weight.

We are thankful to be at Children's Hospital and feel like Grace is receiving excellent care. Now that we have been here a while, her doctors and nurses are becoming our friends, and it's nice to have a good relationship with all the people that are taking care of our child. They moved Grace back to the floor today and made sure that we got a large comfortable room. It's the best one we've had so far!

Grace just woke up from an hour and a half-long nap in her bed, by herself. Please pray that she will sleep some on her own tonight! We have many more days ahead of us, and we will all be more rested if she is sleeping in her crib.

Thanks for praying!