The doctors decided yesterday that Madeleine is doing so well that they're increasing feeds by 1 cc ever 6 hours rather than every 12 hours. This means that by Saturday afternoon, she'll reach full feeds of 34cc's every 3 hours. Once this happens, we should be able to report that Madeleine is completely off all medicines and/or other medical support. She'll keep the IV in her arm and will have the regular monitors on her chest and will still have the feeding tube in her nose. However, she'll be processing all of her own food. The news is so good, Kirsten and I are a little scared...
Here's the game plan as it stands right now:
1) Get better at bottle feeding. Coach Dad (that's me) is taking over tomorrow night and I expect to report major progress after the weekend. Yes-- I'm over confident in my abilities but its worked so far, so why stop trying now? Madeleine really likes me right now but her opinion may change after I make her use the bottle for her whole feeds.
2) Surgery: It could happen next week but we're still thinking that the re-attachment surgery will be scheduled for the first week of June. Once Madeleine reaches full feeds, we'll probably ask to talk with the General Surgeons about the proposed course of action. More than likely they'll tell us that they want her to grow for a week on full feeds and then they'll do a contrast study where they insert liquid into the intestines and then take an X-Ray. The fluid shows up really bright in the X-Ray and it allows them to identify any potential problems for surgery. They don't expect to find anything but this is standard procedure before a non-emergency intestinal surgery. We're just excited that she's going to have a surgery that isn't caused by an emergency.
3) Avoiding infection continues to be the most important factor. If we can get through the surgery and recovery period without infection, we'll be well on our way to a speedy recovery.
That's all on the medical front. Thanks again for everyone's support.
Kirsten & Brent
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2 comments:
In the May pictures, toward the very end, she's really growing. Hair, weight, body. She's even making faces now - was that a SMILE starting to creep across her face? Wow. She has come so so far. I can see why you're so happy. Hope your predictions are accurate for the next few weeks.
Will
Oh my goodness, she looks fantastic! I'm so so happy! Keep up the great work Madeleine-those chubby little cheeks look wonderful on you. Your cousins are "scheduled" to arrive in the next two to three weeks and we all can't wait to come see you. They're doing cheers for you as I type! Have a wonderful long weekend and keep up the excellent progress. We all love you!
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