I so *pink puffy heart* the ER…

That i apparently can’t keep myself or my kids away from it.

Just a quick update –

we are headed up to the ER at Lutheran to get a few things checked out for Kendall Quinn.
first – her tube came out at some point last nite. Yesterday afternoon I noticed a lot of reddish chunks coming back out in her “burps”, and then this morning there’s tubey just laying in her onesie! It seems like the balloon burst, and the chunks may have been the first sign that the tube was rubbing around inside her stomach. Without the balloon to hold it in place, it easily slipped out and the stoma (hole) has started to close. I was able to get a very very small tube in there (one of her old NG tubes), but there is no way her regular tube is going back in.
when I called the surgeon for help, he said it could wait till monday and he would dilate it in office and stick it back in. which is all fun and games except that there’s no way I can feed her through this tube because we really can’t check if it’s in her stomach or her intestines. if its in her stomach, great, all’s good. if its in her intestines, she can only tolerate about 1/3 of her normal amount (because your intestines aren’t meant to process food, there’s no acid in your intestines to break it down.) Anyways – so that in and of itself is freaky. Thank God she CAN take some orally – the problem is – everything she drinks plus all her electrolytes and other stomach fluids come pouring back OUT of the opening, leading to possible dehydration even quicker than if she was just not eating or drinking period.
I mentioned to the surgeon that we may end up at LG for observation anyways because of her retracting/weird breathing lately – and he basically acted like i was crazy for not already having her at the ER if she is having trouble breathing.
therein lies the crux.
she is NOT having “trouble” breathing, but some internal process is occurring whereby her body is telling her to breathe harder/deeper in order to remain somewhat stable. So, as i was already inclined to do, i did call Dr. A for his opinion.
in his words – “she goes from 60 to zero so quickly we can’t “wait and see” what’s going on, we need to know NOW”.

so up to the ER we go.
we are running a chest x-ray, some blood gases and other labs to see what’s going on. hopefully they just need to observe her for a little bit and can pop her tubey back in for good measure all right there in the ER.
If ANYTHING shows up on her CXR (xray), she’s getting admitted.

So please pray.

In an ironic twist – tomorrow would have matched our longest time out of the hospital – 86 days.

thanks for praying

t