Emma Kate's cath is complete! Everything went smoothly and she is sound asleep in her crib in our room. Her vitals are being checked every hour to make sure she stays stable. Her sats are good for her, hovering right at 80-83%.
In a nutshell, Dr. Law did not find any collateral arteries that needed to be coiled off. Her pressures in her lungs and heart are low, which is good, but they do not need to be any lower. If he had coiled off any arteries whatsoever, it would lower her pressures, and he didn't feel that it would benefit her at all. Basically, he does not feel that the chylous effusions are caused by the supposed increased pressure in her body, simply because the pressures aren't high.
So, where do we go from here? The medical intervention that we will try now is a strict TPN diet. No fluids except for TPN and dextrose. The team was able to get a PICC line put in. It's not in the greatest place, comfort wise, because it is in her left groin. But it will enable her to have TPN administered in a place that has a lower risk of the line coming out. We will try the TPN therapy through this weekend. (YES, we are here for another week...) If this does not dry up the effusion, our next option is surgery.
I do not want it to have to come to that.
Thank you, everyone for your prayers. Please know that this is how we are getting through all of this.
Praying that TPN does the trick, and most importantly that the PICC line stays in! :+) So glad that Emma Kate came through the cath procedure well and is resting now! I pray that she'll continue to rest well during the night and TPN will keep her satisified! Thank you for the update!
ReplyDeletei just caught myself up on your blog and oh my goodness bethany how my heart rejoices and aches for you at the same time. it's good to know ek is doing better, yet i'm sure as a mother you are absolutely petrified of the next move. i will continue to keep all of you in my prayers; you really do weigh on my heart very heavily these days. i love you so much and i hope that ek knows she has people in kansas loving her too!!
ReplyDeletejenifriend
Oh my... not exactly a great answer, but this is still good news. I hope that she is not too irritated by her PICC line and that her diet will help. What exactly is TPN and why do they think it might help her?
ReplyDeleteStill praying for y'all! We'll be there next Thursday...let us know what we can bring you! If you are home, we'll bring dinner...if you are at the hospital...we can bring lunch!
ReplyDeleteThinking about y'all - I know you are running on fumes right now. Just stay positive - it sounds like Emma Kate is such a strong little girl. We'll keep praying - keep updating us!
ReplyDelete