Medicine girl

It's been a few days since we've posted and Ella has had quite a bit happen this week.

First, she got an upper GI exam. She drank barium and the doctors evaluated whether or not she had reflux. The diagnosis was that she had a mild to moderate case (on a scale of mild, moderate, severe). So nothing serious, however they wanted to stop it in case it was irritating her esophagus and attributing to her bottle challenge. She is on Zantac to stop the acid production. There are also other liquid meds that are available to coat the esophagus if it continues to be a concern.

Second, the doctors felt she was retaining too much fluid so Ella took a diuretic for 3 days. This obviously caused her to urinate more frequently and she lost about 3 ounces in water weight. She quickly regained it though and hit the 7-pound mark on Thursday night. We think this also helped with her breathing and oxygen dependency since there was excess fluid around her lungs, which leads me to my next comment.

Ella was moved also to 0.1 liter flow of oxygen and has successfully handled it. This is the last step before removing the oxygen assistance entirely. Truth be told, the nose prongs are barely in her nose anyway since she has learned how to yank them out. I'm feeling optimistic that she'll be off oxygen in a few days.

She continues to be challenged by the bottle, although I'm sure one day it will just click for her. In order to successfully bottle feed, her oxygen levels must stay steady. (Isn't it interesting to see how all of these items are intertwined...every little change affects something else.)

Her blood count levels have stayed steady and her ability to produce new cells is just fine.

Lastly, the lab techs performed a culture on her stools. They found a fancy-named bad bacteria and are treating it with antibiotics. She'll take those for 6 days and is already half way through her dosages.

Here are a couple of cute picture for those that haven't gotten to see her in a while, compliments of the St. John's paparazzi. I absolutely LOVE her fuzzy hair after bath time. Anytime I need a smile, I look at these. She's so cute!