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| McKinley, seconds before I had to hand her to the anaesthesiologist.... |
McKinley's G tube surgery was a success! It took quite a bit longer than expected (2 1/2 hours instead of 45 minutes) which made Mom and Dad a bit nervous, but all in all it went great, and McKinley is now home and healing well. The reason the surgery took a bit longer is because they were looking to see if she had malrotation of the stomach, which they would have needed to fix while they were in there. Thankfully she did not have that, so they didn't need to do any other procedures. So, the G tube is in, and even better news is that the NG tube is out! We got to use the G tube for the first time yesterday and all went well, so she no longer needs to have a tube blocking the beautiful view of her face. We absolutely love that the G tube is hidden under her clothes, and there is nothing the outside world can see now that makes her look like anything other than a normal 4 month old baby girl. Since she has been home she has had a terrible rattling/congested noise in her throat that can best be explained as sounding somewhat like a diesel truck! Because of this she coughs and chokes a lot, especially at night, which has made sleeping for all of us very difficult! We have asked many Dr's opinions as to what this might be from, and finally have come to the conclusion that it seems to be inflammation in the trachea from the breathing tube being in there during surgery. This causes the mucus to not be able to pass through so it gets stuck in there and she can't get it out. So, the Dr prescribed her 4 doses of steroids and we are hopeful that when she is done with those she will be cured. :) While Dr Healy (McKinley's AMAZING surgeon) was doing her surgery, he noticed that her liver looked a bit yellow. His conclusion was that this could be from her getting too many calories and the liver storing too much fat because of it. The nephrology team was consulted and they've decided to cut back on her calories, but up the amount of fluid she needs by adding more water to her diet. They figured that a 3lb weight gain in one month was probably good enough progress, and that it would be ok to cut back a bit. :) We are still struggling a bit to get the amount of fluid that McKinley needs into her without her throwing it back up, but other than that, everything is going well. McKinley is now 12lbs 2oz, 23 1/3 in long and as of yesterday her creatnin was .5 - the lowest it's ever been! Dr Flynn (McKinley's AMAZING nephrologist) said that if this continues, we may not need to do her kidney transplant for a few years. God is working awesome miracles in McKinley's life, I can't wait to see what he's going to do next!!
And never to be forgotten is sweet baby Brooks. He is (one of the two) lights of our life. He has turned into a happy, sleepy baby; one that is much less fussy and smiles all the time. He is 11lbs 12oz and 24 1/2 in long. He is so fun to be around and although I haven't heard it since, I definitely got him to laugh a few days ago. Turns out his as ticklish as his mom. :)
As the days go by we are getting more and more settled into our "routine", if you can call it that. We are so incredibly blessed. Dare I say life is getting a tiny bit easier for the Miller clan?
