Weekend Abby News

Sunday June 25, 2006
I guess my previous email didn’t get through everybody. Sorry about the lag time on this update. The weekend went well. Abby is doing well. The same thing I said for Saturday. Feeds are good, spells are few and far between and the settings on the nasal cannula are low.
Read below for more details…
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Saturday June 24, 2006
Dare I say it? There isn’t much to report! Abby is doing very well these days. She is getting harder and harder to leave that’s for sure. And it’s becoming more of a reality that we’ll actually be able to take her home. Those of you who have been through the NICU experience for a long period of time know what I’m talking about here.

She is still getting her milk through that tube you see going in her nose and she is still on schedule to have the Broviac taken out on Monday, which is the central IV line that the docs were using to give her a supplemental nutrition concoction as well as any meds that she would need. Now that she is getting more and more healthy, they don’t need it anymore! Plus, the fewer foreign things in her body… the better. Oh! There is something good to report. The developmental therapist gave Abby a bottle yesterday and she did great! She took 5 cc’s on her own, she swallowed fine and she remembered to breathe during the whole thing too. In the NICU, this is known as the "Suck, Swallow, Breathe" combo. It’s very difficult for these little preemie’s to coordinate all this and the fact that Abby did so well is huge. It’s especially good news because of her brain bleeds. Remember, little Abby has a Grade 4 Brain Hemorrhage in the right side of her brain and a grade 3 in her left. There is a 90% chance she will have some serious neurological problems down the road. So when we see Abby do well on things like taking the bottle, we get extra excited! She hasn’t woken up so much in the past few nights but when we called in this morning, Jennie, her nurse said she was wide awake and looking all around. She also mentioned that her night nurse Karen said she had a great night with fewer spells than usual.

Abby is also being seen by a Chinese Medicine Doctor a few times a week. The doctor is giving her acupressure treatments and rubs her back and /or her feet and hands. The goal of all this according to Ruth, our Chinese Medicine Doctor, is to simply enhance her overall growth and healing process. It has a lot to do with brain stimulation and relaxation and with Abby’s Hydrocephalus (the fluid that gets clogged in her brain, which was caused by the brain hemorrhages) I am very excited about it all. My only concern was the cost. Call me crazy, but something was telling me that my insurance wasn’t going to cover Abby’s foot massages. Good news though… it’s free! Well, free to us. It’s all covered by a grant. So pile on the back rubs for Abby. Man… she’s spoiled already.

We thoroughly enjoy your comments on this blog site. Please keep them coming. And while there are no specific concerns for Abby regarding prayers, we ask you continue to pray. That her eyes mature in a healthy manner, that her shunt continues to work well without infection or clogging, and that if by some miracle, her Hydrocephalus will disappear and that passageway in her head may open up and drain the fluid on it’s own.

And there you have it folks. Some more pics for you to see.

The Doctor in one of them is Doctor Chamberlin… or Bishop Chamberlin as we call him. He was our Bishop in the Las Flores Ward and we are blessed to have him as a friend there. After what sounded like close to a 12 to 15 hour day, he still found time to run up to the NICU and check on little Abby. Thanks for stopping in after your long day Bishop!