Emerson is Hungry - 10/11/08 - Day 15

Emerson has had quite a few significant changes over the past two days. When we sent the last update Dr. Phung had just increased Emerson’s feeding volumes to 20 CCs. She continued at this level for about a day when, unexpectedly, another attending physician in the group making rounds boosted the amount to 30 CCs. Lauren and I were somewhat baffled that the physician had made such an adjustment without viewing an x-ray, but thought it might be a sign of improvement.

Saturday morning brought the first x-ray since Thursday. We were hoping to see the continuing ebb of the chylous fluid. Instead we got a pretty big shock. Not only was the fluid re-accumulating, but also it appeared to be larger in volume than the original amount of fluid initially discovered. The physicians decided to reduce her next feed to 15 CCs and consult the on call pulmonologist regarding commencing Octreotide, a medication that halts the body’s production of chylous fluid. There was much discussion and the decision was made to wait until Emerson’s regular attending physician came on at 7 pm. She would then take the lead. After Dr. Phung reviewed the earlier chest x-ray she took Emerson off all feeds and started the medication in intermittent doses.

This morning’s chest x-ray appears to have some improvement over the previous day’s image. The pulmonologist also concurred and expressed that he was very pleased with her “breathing sounds” while examining her. Needless to say poor Emerson is a little upset about the lack of oral feeds. She has nearly sucked her pacifier to smithereens and has become understandably upset. We hope that the medication allows the fissure in her lymphatic system’s “plumbing” to heal quickly so she can resume the Portagen formula feeds.

We don’t have any pictures to share from the last two days since Emerson had us on pacifier duty around the clock. I promise I’ll snap a few good ones tomorrow and get them out to the group.

Lauren, Emerson, and I thank you so much for all of the support we have received. We love you all so much.

Best regards,
The Froschs