The road to recovery...

Alli had a good night in cicu. They had her oxygen weaned down to 2 liters by the time I arrived for morning rounds. Her morning chest X-ray looked worse than yesterday and shows a fair amount of fluid accumulating on her lungs. They are treating that with lasix.
Her sats have been in the 90s all morning and she is currently down to a half liter of oxygen. They have started her feeds as of this morning. She is currently getting 10 mL per hour and they will increase by 10 every eight hours until they get to 30 mL per hour. She has been pretty groggy and sleepy today, which I expected given yesterday's activities. I am hoping to see her perk up later tonight or by tomorrow. She is due to be transferred to the cardiac step down unit today, pending an available bed. Will update more when we have more information.

So, we transferred to the step down unit as planned yesterday. Alli was pretty groggy and sleepy, partially I think from the stress of the procedure and partially from the Tylenol with codeine they gave her for pain. Today she has been somewhat more reactive, but still pretty out of it. I learned how to insert her g-tube in case of emergency. We had a brief visit with one of our favorite PTs at Egleston. Alli also had a short echocardiogram to check her heart function as compared to her last echocardiogram. There were no remarkable differences between the two. We are looking forward to some more of her personality coming out tomorrow. Everyone else is doing well. Samantha has been entertaining my parents and is off painting pumpkins this afternoon with one of her gal pals from school and Megan, our nanny. Jason and I are splitting shifts at the hospital, but look forward to getting everyone back under one roof.

Today has been a quiet day. We went up on Alli's seizure medicine yesterday, which usually makes her pretty sleepy. We did play a little throughout the afternoon. Nanny and Grandpa brought her some of her favorite toys from home. Attached is a picture of her stretching out. The other picture is of her g-tube button...for those who are curious about what it looks like.

Surgery Day

Today is the big day! We say goodbye to Alli's ng-tube and adenoids...and hello to a g-tube and hopefully slightly improved oxygen levels. We'll post updates throughout the day. As you can tell from the photo, Alli is very stressed about the situation...

Alli just went back with the anesthesiologists. She will have her adenoidectomy first, followed by the placement of her g-tube. We spoke with both doctors this morning. They both appeared sober and well rested. Dr. Statham was her usual happy and perky self. We should hear an update from Dr. Statham in the next hour.

Alli is out of surgery and in recovery. We are waiting on confirmation of her room location in the cardiac step down unit.

Her adenoidectomy went smoothly. The placement of her g-tube also went well. She will be on fluids for today and then they will slowly transition her to continuous feeds starting tomorrow. In about 6 weeks, they will train us how to insert the tube on our own in the unlikely event that it comes out. Overall management should be easier than her ng tube.

Just a quick update - they are going to monitor Alli in the cardiac intensive care unit. She looks really good, but is having a hard time managing secretions in her throat. Therefore she requires regular suctioning and increased oxygen. We hope it will just be a short stay. We look forward to seeing her as soon as she is settled in.

Alli is settled in cicu. She will spend the night here so they can continue to monitor her oxygen levels. We are trying to keep her as calm and comfortable as possible, as the excitement seems to cause her some discomfort. So far her blanket and purple hippo have been the best medicine. We have princess Sophie on standby for when she wakes up.

Montessori Mile

This morning was the Montessori Mile at Samantha's school.  There is a 1 mile run for adults and older children.  Then they have a series of 'dashes' for kids 6 and under.  Finally, there is the diaper derby for kids 2 and under.  Samantha participated in the Diaper Derby.  Below are some photos from the morning.

 Samantha fueling up with Baby Jenna before the race.

 Scoping out the competition...

 Warming up on the trampoline...

Waiting at the starting line 

 Taking a victory lap with her ribbon

 Recovering with Salena and Ariana post race

Admiring her ribbon 

Having fun with the football after

All in all it was a great experience for her.  We had hoped to attend as a family, but decided to keep Alli home given Monday's procedure.  We look forward to taking her in the future!

Oh yes - Montessori doesn't award 1st place, etc. - but it should be noted that Samantha blew past the competition and did come in first :)