Improved Health but Delayed Surgery

Madeleine fought her infection all weekend long and they finally were able to determine the type of bacteria that she is fighting. Blood cultures revealed that she is fighting a bacteria commonly found in the intestines and it is likely that the ostomy site was the source of the infection. Once the bug was identified, the doctors were able to shift her antibiotics to target it more effectively and we're hoping that by tomorrow most of her lab work shows a declining infection. While this is all good news, since the bacteria originated in the intestines, the surgeons have decided to delay surgery. We don't have a new date yet as the NICU doctors need to discuss the plan with the surgeons. At this time, they are taking daily cultures of Madeleine's blood and they hope to get two days in a row of negative cultures. Once they've had two days in a row, they intend to keep Madeleine on antibiotics for an additional 10 days. Its not clear if the surgeons will wait until the full ten days or if they'll go in once all lab work shows that the infection is under control. At this time, we're assuming that it is likely she'll have surgery around the end of next week-- June 13th.

As far as feeding is concerned, Madeleine is currently getting all of her nutrition via the IV as her intestines show some signs of the infection-- an X-Ray showed that her intestines aren't doing much right now. (Remember the term ileus?) They'll take X-Rays every two or three days and once the X-Rays show an improved picture, they'll consider starting her back with feeds.

As you can see from the picture, Madeleine is back on breathing support and will probably remain on it for at least the next few days. She was moved to a high flow nasal canula over the weekend as she had some hard mucus secretions in her nose (aka boogies) that were making it difficult for her to breathe. The high flow provides more humidity and helps break up the boogies, allowing her to breathe easier. They'll probably keep her on this for a few days before they try to wean.

In short, we're a little frustrated that the surgery will be delayed but we're happy that the doctors know what bug they're fighting and pleased that they're confident that they can treat the infection effectively. We hope to have a better idea of when the surgery will take place in the next days. Thanks again for your support.

Kirsten and Brent

PS-- the picture was taken on Saturday. Despite fighting an infection and weighing 4 lbs, 8 oz, Madeleine still was able to lift her head and even pushed up a bit while laying on her chest... small victories... See more new pictures in the may album at http://picasaweb.google.com/brentbushey.