Kate had her surgery to place a feeding tube yesterday. The surgery went well with no issues and no complications. The tube is in and works with no problems so far. It’s been a tough day and a half so far though due to Kate not being able to eat or drink anything for a total of 30 hours, 6 hours pre-surgery and 24 hours after. It’s rather tough trying to get a 10 month old to understand that her stomach needs to heal. Audrey and I spent the day and a large portion of the evening holding Kate either standing, sitting or bouncing on an exercise ball as that was the only way she would stay calm enough to keep her heart rate low enough to keep it out of the scary high range.
Kate made it through the night and after about 8:30am today was finally able to take a few sips of pedialite with more going in her new g-tube. After a couple hours she was released to eat whatever she likes. She’s finally calm and sleeping fairly reasonably. As I write this she’s out cold and completely exhausted, in Audrey’s arms on a rocker. We’re still slightly hopeful that we may get out of here tomorrow, Friday, but it may end up being over the weekend.
This visit is definitely the toughest one we have had yet with Kate. I’m guessing it’s partially because she is older now and much more capable. This is also the most post-op restrictions Kate has had. Even after the repair of her Aorta, she was able to eat after a couple hours. Ultimately we still think this surgery will really help Kate to grow and thrive. She’s been struggling to stay on the growth curve and hopefully she can now start climbing back up it.
Thanks everyone for the well wishes and support. We really appreciate it.
Dave, Audrey and Kate
Jackie and I worry about all three of you