life at home

Well, I obviously have slacked off quite a bit in my postings.  Life gets hectic, and there aren't fireworks with Kylie every day, like there used to be.

Apparently, Kylie got homesick for the hospital.  Saturday July 7^th she started to look really gross around her g-tube.  It was red, swollen, and had a little pus.  Thanks, kid, you couldn’t have had that happen on a weekday, could you?  We called the pediatrician and she recommended we go to the ER at the hospital where she was born, since they know her.  So, we dumped the kids with Grandma and took what once was a familiar trek.  It’s only been a few weeks, but it seems like forever ago.  We went in and were surprised how quickly we were seen.  The attending resident was one we had met when Kylie was in the NICU, so that was nice.  She called down someone from surgery.  The doctor who came didn’t really seem to know what he was doing.  As it turned out, it was his first week of his residency.  Anyway, they said she had an infection, prescribed an antibiotic, and we went home.  Only two hours in the ER—not bad.

After a week of the medicine she should have looked great.  The pediatrician said she was healing fine on Friday when she went in.  Kylie now weighs 8 lbs, 2 oz.  Not normal for a 3 month old, but steady growth.  Anyway, over the weekend it started looking worse and worse.  Pus isn’t a good sign, is it?  Finally we figured out that the tube was pushed in a little deeper than it used to be.  Let me back up a little.  It has always been easy for us to push it in and out.  Not a lot, but maybe a ½ inch.  There were stitches above the surface of the skin on the tube, which at one time held the tube in place.  They eventually worked themselves out and now hover just above the surface of the skin.  We realized that the stitches were no longer visible. 

Holding the tube in place, so it doesn’t get pulled out, is a stabilizer.  It is basically a large round patch with a clamp that holds the tube.  That way, when Dallin pulls Kylie around the room like a car on a string, the  tube doesn’t pop out.  He isn’t as careful as we’d like down the stairs, but at least the tube stays in place.  I digress… what happened was when I last changed the stabilizer, the tube was clamped in a little more than normal.  The skin was rejecting the stitches, so it got all infected.  Last night I unclamped it, and it slowly worked its way out.  Tonight I easily clipped off the ends of the stitches and they are back above the skin where they belong.  She is looking much better already.

I said above that “they said she had an infection” when we went to the ER.  Last Friday, when Kylie was weighed, the pediatrician swabbed the site and sent it to the lab.  She was very annoyed that this had not been done in the ER.  Today we got the results—E. Coli.   Again… 

We don’t really understand why E. Coli is this super scary thing that is on unwashed spinach, but it also is in everyone’s stomach and is harmless.  Weird.  Anyway, she is on new antibiotics this time, which should kill the E. Coli.  Since the ER people didn’t swab, they didn’t prescribe the right thing before.  It is scary to think that she has an infection similar to what almost killed her before, but this time it isn’t in the blood stream.  This time, it should be relatively easy to get rid of and we’ll move on with things.  Let’s hope so.