July 23, 2008

Good Afternoon! I thought I would take a minute to update everyone on Olivia’s progress since she came home on June 25. Olivia now weighs over 11 lbs. According to the doctor appt yesterday she shrunk though. They said she is only 19 ½ inches long, but she was 20 inches at discharge. Oh well!

Olivia saw the eye doctor a couple of weeks ago. They said her eyes look good. Her retinas are mature now. They even had a way of checking her vision, which showed she has really good vision. YAY!!

Her blood pressures have continued to decrease so we’ve been able to cut one of her medications out completely and reduce the other to half the amount. YAY for that too!! We check her blood pressure daily, sometimes more than once, and her levels are remaining good. Olivia has a follow-up renal ultrasound and appointment with the nephrologists on August 8.

On Tuesday I have to take Olivia to St. Mary’s for a follow-up echocardiogram. They will be checking for signs of high blood pressure. They are also still monitoring her PDA. An echo a couple of months ago showed it was closed, but a more recent one suggested that it is still present but still very small.

We were also supposed to see the pulmonologist next week on Friday, but that appointment will be canceled. Olivia will still see the pulmonologist, but inpatient. Olivia goes in on Thursday morning for her surgery. She is going to have the G-tube put in. The surgery is scheduled for 7:30 and should only take about an hour. The procedure itself only takes about 20 minutes, but she’ll be in the OR for about an hour. Remember to keep Olivia in your thoughts and prayers!

Joe and I are really enjoying having Olivia at home with us. As much as we loved all the nurses and doctors, it’s been really nice not having to go to the hospital everyday! Hopefully this hospital stay will be much shorter than the last!