Is There a Self After TBI?
3 months ago
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
My little old lady with oxygen and a walker
This is for the girls at work who love seeing Adi in her walker. She has been able to get around without help for a couple of months. Sorry it has taken me so long to put this on here. Just want you all to know that after Adi saw I put down the camera she started clapping. What a kid!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Can't get enough of it
We were in the hospital again. Adi's gagging was progressively getting worse, she was screaming in her sleep and then would be craby all morning. Poor kid was having a hard time. Then last Wednesday night she would only be able to sleep for 15 minutes at a time and then would scream until she'd pass out. She was tired and after a crying fit would close her eyes trying to go to sleep but would usually start crying again within a few minutes. We took Adi in first thing in the morning (Aug 20th)and were admitted to rehydrate her and give her some pain relief with some IV drugs. It seems it was a stomach virus which slowed down her intestines and was trapping air in her system. She had been trying to throw up but because of the nissen couldn't. We got home Friday night and everyday she has been getting better.
Meet Our Newest Addition
Ayzlyn Belle was born July 14th at 7:49am. Weighed in at 6 lbs 4 oz. and 18 inches long. She has been a perfect baby, sleeping most of the day and letting me continue to give Adi the care she needs. She has already gained a pound and 3 inches. She is a great eater and is such a great addition to the family. I am doing well and love being a mom.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Finally getting answers
Here is the family email we sent out. I will be adding more detail in the next post.
First of all we apologize for the delay in getting this update out to you all. Our latest adventures with Adi have finally brought some answers. We were admitted to Primary Children’s on Thursday the 11th of June, because Adi was progressively eating less, having restless sleep, grunting and screaming out in pain especially after she ate. Her love of food kept her eating but she started drinking less and struggled a little more each time she swallowed. She was just not acting like herself. She just wanted to be held all the time and had little to no energy.
To not make this email too long I have decided to summarize the findings. One of the reasons we were admitted to the hospital was because Adi couldn’t maintain her oxygen saturation in the 90s. An abdominal x-ray was taken to check if she had a bowel obstruction. There wasn’t an obstruction but they did find she was backed up so they gave her an enema (she ended up getting several in the next couple of days). Once they found out she was completely cleaned out and still not holding her oxygen saturation at an appropriate level, a pulmonologist was asked to review Adi’s x-rays. Dr. Uchida told us he was amazed she’d ever been on room air after her 2nd surgery. Her diaphragm is abnormally shaped with the right side being higher than it should be and the heart looked enlarged. He ordered an EKG, echocardiogram, and a test that shows the function of the diaphragm under fluoroscopy. The EKG showed possible enlargement of the right side of the heart and possible pulmonary hypertension. The echocardiogram findings disproved the possible problems shown in the EKG and that everything is ok with her heart so we are very grateful for that. The diaphragm study showed the right side is basically paralyzed and is blocking the lung from fully expanding. So far we’ve been told that the only thing we can do for that is surgery. They also did a stomach emptying study to make sure the contents of the stomach empty in a timely manner which is the case with Adi’s stomach.
We were released from the hospital on Friday the 19th. Adi has a feeding tube and is on oxygen 24 hours a day. Her continuous feeds are giving her about double the calories as normal children her size. The GI specialist and surgeon agreed she is malnourished and wanted to give her additional nutrition through her veins. They tried to place a PICC line but failed 6 times in each arm, so for right now we will see if the tube feedings are sufficient. We will continue to give her the thyroid medicine and growth hormone in hope to get her growing and healthy enough for surgery.
This little kid is a fighter. It was hard to watch her go through so much pain to get these answers but we are finally feeling like we have a better understanding of what needs to be done in order to get this kid healthy. We are grateful for her strength and ability to overcome all these trials that have come to her at such a young age. We continue to appreciate your prayers in her behalf. We love you all and can’t wait to see you at the summer festivities.
Love,
The Whitakers
Feeling a little better and ready to start making a mess.
First of all we apologize for the delay in getting this update out to you all. Our latest adventures with Adi have finally brought some answers. We were admitted to Primary Children’s on Thursday the 11th of June, because Adi was progressively eating less, having restless sleep, grunting and screaming out in pain especially after she ate. Her love of food kept her eating but she started drinking less and struggled a little more each time she swallowed. She was just not acting like herself. She just wanted to be held all the time and had little to no energy.
To not make this email too long I have decided to summarize the findings. One of the reasons we were admitted to the hospital was because Adi couldn’t maintain her oxygen saturation in the 90s. An abdominal x-ray was taken to check if she had a bowel obstruction. There wasn’t an obstruction but they did find she was backed up so they gave her an enema (she ended up getting several in the next couple of days). Once they found out she was completely cleaned out and still not holding her oxygen saturation at an appropriate level, a pulmonologist was asked to review Adi’s x-rays. Dr. Uchida told us he was amazed she’d ever been on room air after her 2nd surgery. Her diaphragm is abnormally shaped with the right side being higher than it should be and the heart looked enlarged. He ordered an EKG, echocardiogram, and a test that shows the function of the diaphragm under fluoroscopy. The EKG showed possible enlargement of the right side of the heart and possible pulmonary hypertension. The echocardiogram findings disproved the possible problems shown in the EKG and that everything is ok with her heart so we are very grateful for that. The diaphragm study showed the right side is basically paralyzed and is blocking the lung from fully expanding. So far we’ve been told that the only thing we can do for that is surgery. They also did a stomach emptying study to make sure the contents of the stomach empty in a timely manner which is the case with Adi’s stomach.
We were released from the hospital on Friday the 19th. Adi has a feeding tube and is on oxygen 24 hours a day. Her continuous feeds are giving her about double the calories as normal children her size. The GI specialist and surgeon agreed she is malnourished and wanted to give her additional nutrition through her veins. They tried to place a PICC line but failed 6 times in each arm, so for right now we will see if the tube feedings are sufficient. We will continue to give her the thyroid medicine and growth hormone in hope to get her growing and healthy enough for surgery.
This little kid is a fighter. It was hard to watch her go through so much pain to get these answers but we are finally feeling like we have a better understanding of what needs to be done in order to get this kid healthy. We are grateful for her strength and ability to overcome all these trials that have come to her at such a young age. We continue to appreciate your prayers in her behalf. We love you all and can’t wait to see you at the summer festivities.
Love,
The Whitakers
Feeling a little better and ready to start making a mess.
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