Cedie Lynn Mock's Blog

Cedie Lynn was born on 6/16/05 in Memphis, TN. She arrived 6 wks early. Cedie spent the first 11 & 1/2 months in the hospital. Although she endured many surgeries and spent 2/3 of her life in hospitals, she was a very happy, beautiful little girl who was full of love and who was loved by everyone who met her in person and online. She now watches over all of us as our own little angel.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Sunday, 4/30/06

Cedie's day today was not much better than yesterday. She is still having problems keeping her CO2 down. She was real irritable and she just wanted to be left alone. She was sedated most of the day and they increased the pressure on her vent.

I spoke with the cardiologist today. He wants to proceed with the cardiac cath & biopsy as planned. She is scheduled to go at 10am tomorrow morning. The entire procedure will take approx. 2 hours. They will be taking measurements of the O2 levels and the pressures within her heart. They will take a sample of her heart that is about the size of a sesame seed. He says that he should be able to talk with us about the findings soon after she gets back to her room (the biopsy results will take longer). Chris, her Nana, her Godmother, and I will all be there for her.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Saturday, 4/29/06 - Another Bad Day

Cedie started the day with an O2 increase from 30% to 50%. Also, she had to take a dose of chlor. hydrate (mild sedation) to calm her down so that the vent could help her. She was breathing too fast and not using all of her lungs to move air. Her CO2 was too high and her O2 too low. Obviously we are not going to attempt any CPAP trials today.

I am going to go sit with her. I'll update later tonight. Pray that she will get over this hump quickly and that it does not esculate further.

Cedie was in her "no one touches me!" mood. She was fine as long as we left her alone. I tried holding her but she started coughing and that started a fit. She had to be bumped to 100% O2 for 10 minutes to help her get through the episode. However, within 15 minutes after being put back in her bed and put back at 50% O2, her stats were much better. She went back to being sound asleep. Her pulmonologist was not too concerned. He agreed that she was pushed too fast and 12/14 hrs seems to be here limit at this point. He ordered that she be put back on CPAP as soon as she gets to her baseline. That will not happen today but maybe tomorrow...

Friday, April 28, 2006

Friday, 4/28/06-Cath Date Set/Rough Day

We FINALLY have a cath date. She will go for her heart cath and heart biopsy Monday morning at 10:00. We are very nervous about how the sedation will affect her but we are hoping that we get some answers regarding her heart and possibly regarding why she is struggling to get off the vent.

Cedie has not had such a good day today. As soon as she was put on her CPAP this morning she started acting like she was last night when they took her off early. She was unable to keep her CO2 down and her O2 sats up. She was real fussy and she was sweaty. They decided to let her rest a while. She has slept most of today.

This is a repeating pattern for Cedie. She has a stretch of good days and then she falls and we start over. Last time she "fell" we were up to 21 hrs of CPAP and then had to start back at 1 and work all month to get to 16. This is the main reason why we are going ahead with the heart cath and biopsy. Her echocardiograms of her heart have shown some heart defects but it never looked like it should affect her lung function. However, her pulmonologists believe that there is something with her heart that is being missed because they do not think it is the lungs that have the problem. The doctors are cautious of sending Cedie home when they do not know why she has these "falls", when the next fall will be, or even what the extent of the downfall will be.
Hopefully, we will be able to make a care plan for her after Monday's procedures.

This afternoon, Cedie took 12cc from her bottle. She started out good but then she got gassy. We gave her gas meds but after it settled down she did not want anymore of the bottle.

She did sit up for a little while in her new seat. Her nurse hung toys in front of her face and she kept trying to grab at them.

She looked really tired tonight. Her color was not as good as it usually is and you could see her starting to work hard to breathe.

She had a rough night. Her night nurse said that she was not moving air as well as she normally does. She was weezing a little as well.

Thursday 4/27/06




Cedie got her new seat today! She wasn't quite sure what to think of it. She got a sucker as a treat for trying it out :-) Yum Yum!

As it turnes out, Cedie weighed 6.88 kg on Monday, not the 7.88 that I was told. Today, she weighed 7.0kg (15.4 lbs).

Cedie took 20cc from her bottle. She worked so hard at it that she passed out :-) She was sound asleep when I left her.

Cedie did 12 hrs of CPAP today. She was schedule to do 16 but she got tired/fussy/irritable around 8pm so they went ahead and put her back on her vent rate. Her nurse said she was a much happier baby after she got her "help" back. Guess she had just had enough...

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Wednesday, 4/26/06

Life is good in Cedie's world today. She was happy all day and had no fits. She worked with her PT and OT therapists. They are looking into a new seat for her that will help her sit more steadily. When I came in to see her, she was "dancing" in her bed. She was listening to a CD that one of her great nurses gave to her as an Easter present. Her arms were waving in the air, she had a big smile on her face, and she was wiggling all around her bed!

She only took 8cc from her bottle during her 6pm feeding. She was really tired though.

She did 16 hours of CPAP today!!! Her CO2 stayed steady throughout the trial! GO CEDIE GO!

BTW- No word yet on the cardiac cath. Apparently, the cath lab is swamped.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Tuesday 4/25/06

Cedie had another good day. She was happy all day. When I went to see her she was standing in her exersaucer and watching Baby Einstein on her TV. She was so into the show that I had to get right in her face to make her look at me. She gave me a big smile. I left her in the saucer and sat in front of her. We played with her Nemo balloon. She was having so much fun.

She took 18cc from her bottle. (to clarify- she takes 100cc every 3 hrs 7x per day. Generally, she only gets to try bottle feeding 1 x per day {unless her speech therapist comes by during a feeding} and what she does not take by mouth goes in through her g-tube).

We watched American Idol together. Kelly P. made her cry :-) We both love Chris!

She did 14 hours of CPAP today. She did so good that they are increasing her to 16 hours tomorrow.

**For those of you who know Big Brother Dylan - Dylan had a traumatic day. He got his 5 year old, pre-kindergarten, shots. He was so strong that I had to lay over his chest and arms, one nurse had to hold down his legs, and another nurse held down his feet. He screamed so loud that people could hear him a block away. It was awful! He was so upset about the whole ordeal and he had to tell everyone about it (including the lady at McDonalds drive thru, everyone I work with, his Nana, his me-maw, etc.) GOOD NEWS- he is now ready to register for Kindergarten! (i told him that Cedie has had to do this 3 times this year already but that didn't seem to help...)

Monday, 4/24/06

Cedie had a pretty good day. It was weigh in day and she was 7.68kg (16.9 lbs!). She is gaining weight really fast (not sure if that is bad or good.. we'll have to see). Her Godmother came to visit her and play with her this morning. They had fun together. When I came by to spend time with her she was a little irritable at first (her nurse had just finished messing with her) but she soon became her happy, playful self. One of her therapist had given her a new teething toy and we played with it for a while (until she threw it on the floor). She took 15cc from her bottle and then decided she wanted to play her spitting/smiling game so we finished the rest via her g-tube. I rocked her to sleep but when I tried to put her in the bed, she woke back up. When I left her she was playing with my shirt and smiling at her "friends" (her stuffed animals that were lined up around her in the bed). Her night nurse said she stayed up until around 9 and then slept good the rest of the night.

Also, Cedie did 14 hours of CPAP today and did a great job! Her C02 numbers were very good from beginning to end. She will do 14 hrs again tomorrow.

New Article on CHARGE Syndrome

The link below is a very interesting article on CHARGE Syndrome and two of Cedie's CHARGE group friends.

http://speech-language-pathology-audiology.advanceweb.com/common/Editorial/Editorial.aspx?CC=70363

Monday, April 24, 2006

Good weekend 4/22 & 4/23

Saturday
Cedie's dad (Chris), brother (Dylan), and I went to see her at 9am this morning. We had Chris' two cousins-Forrest and Jimmy- and their two girlfriends with us. They are from Florida and we were all heading to Hot Springs for Chris' grandfather's memorial service. When we walked in, Cedie had just gotten through with her bath. The nurse assistant said that Cedie had so much fun in her bath. She was smiling from ear to ear and splashing in the tub! (Cedie used to HATE baths!!!) When she saw us all coming into her room she was so excited. She was smiling big and moving her head from side to side! It was so cute. Her daddy and I each held her up for all to see and you could tell she was loving it. I have never seen her so interactive with people like that!
Cedie's Nana came and sat with her this afternoon. They rocked, played with toys, and read books for a few hours. Both enjoyed this time thoroughly.
Cedie did her 12 hr CPAP trial with no problems today!
She had a restful night. Her night nurse said that Cedie has a new trick- she holds her legs up while you are changing her diaper! Such a big girl!

Sunday
Cedie had a good day today as well. She has learned how to take her socks off her feet with her hands (not an easy feat with all those tubes and wires in the way). When I came to see her, she was excited to see me. We had a really good visit and played a lot. I did her trach care and she got mad but as soon as I picked her up she was happy again (she used to take a lot longer to recover from getting upset).
She did another 12 hr CPAP trial today and she did very well. Her CO2 was good before and after the trial.
Tonight her nurse noticed a new milestone. Cedie threw a fit when she was woken up by the respiratory therapist because it was time for her two treatments and chest pt's. Her nurse (one of our fav's who loves Cedie!) said that this fit was different because she did not sweat, drop sats, or clamp up. She didn't even get clammy. The nurse said she gave her the pacifier and she calmed right back down. She "handled it like a -normal-big girl". She is growing up!
After Cedie finished letting the RT know how displeased she was at her for waking her up, she went right back to sleep and slept good the rest of the night.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Friday, 4/21/06

According to today's nurse, Cedie had a great day. She was happy all day. She took a little nap when I first got there but then she woke up and we played. She was really playful during her 6pm feeding! What a mess! She took 14cc and then decided it was more fun to spit it at mommy :-)

Cedie did another 10 hour CPAP trial today. She handled it with no problems, so they have ordered a 12 hour trial for tomorrow. Her respiratory therapist says she handling it like a champ and she would not be surprised to see Cedie on trach collar soon! (this is the next step after CPAP-a step we have yet to try)

I forgot to ask yesterday, but I found out today that Cedie weighed 7.58kg (16.7 lbs) yesterday! She only gets weighed on Mondays and Thursdays. She grew almost 1.5 lbs in 4 days!

I called to check on her at 10pm. Her night nurse said that she had just gone to sleep 30 minutes ago! She said she had been contently playing in her bed since I left around 8pm. She was playing with my t-shirt (I give her a t-shirt, which I wore the night before, every night to help her with her separation fears-she loves it). Her regular weekend night nurse (who we love!) is always telling me how Cedie "works" my shirt before she finally goes to sleep. It has to be just right (usually most of it is covering her head and lately she has been sticking some of it on her thumb and into her mouth!).

I talked to the cardiologist today. He said the cath lab is really swamped but we may be able to get her in next Thursday.

Thursday 4/20/06

Cedie had a great day. She did 10 hours of CPAP and handled it well. Her respiratory therapist said she was doing very well. She had fun with her occupational therapist. She took a good nap. She drank 16cc from her bottle. She played with me for a long time and then she played in her bed for an hour after I left!
We still do not have a date/time for her cath. Hopefully next week...

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Cedie's April 2006 Pics




Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Wednesday 4/19




Cedie had a pretty good day. She played alot. Her speech therapist and physical therapist came and worked with her.

Cedie drank 17cc from her bottle. She was a little messy today because she was more interested in playing than drinking (SEE THE PICS ABOVE-I took them today!). She kept trying to get her thumb in her mouth while the bottle was in the way. She also thought spitting it out of the side of her mouth was hysterical!

She did almost 6 hours of CPAP but then the respiratory therapist took her off early (she should have done 8 hrs). Her nurse said that she was having a little fit and the RT did not want to give her a chance to calm down, he just took her off. (He is not one of her normal RTs and he doesn't know her well like the others do). Her resident doctor has ordered a 10 hour trial tomorrow.

Cedie decided that she was not going to take a nap, no matter what, today! She wanted to be like her brother (he's never been good at the "nap" thing!). I finally got her to sleep around 7pm tonight. I bet she sleeps good tonight!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Tuesday 4/18 - My Little Angel

Cedie had a good day. She did 8 hours of CPAP with no problems. The speech therapist worked with her and got her to take 12cc from her bottle. She also fed her some chicken and rice baby food. When I fed her at 6pm she took 22cc for me! Go Cedie! Cedie really fought sleep tonight. She was so cute trying to keep herself awake. She finally snuggled real close, grabbed a fist full of my shirt so that I couldn't go anywhere, and passed out. I rocked her for a while afterward just so that I could watch her sleep. She is such a precious little angel!

Monday 4/17/06 Trach Scare

Cedie had a great day with the exception of a traumatic event around 2pm. She was propped up in her boppy pillow taking a nap. Her nurse was at a desk outside of her room charting when she heard all of Cedie's alarms going off. When she went into Cedie's room, Cedie was blue and her heart rate was dropping. Her nurse thought that she was having one of the episodes that used to be typical of Cedie (she hasn't done it in quite a while). The nurse started "bagging" her but her coloring and her heart rate was not improving. More people came in to help and then they realized that Cedie's trach had somehow slipped out, effectively taking away her airway. They did a quick trach change, bagged her some more, and she came back to her normal self. She was understandabley upset (heck of a way to be woken up) but her nurse rocked her for a while and she was happy again. When I suctioned her at 5:00, her secretions were a little pink tinged but they cleared up and she had no further issues.
Cedie was supposed to do 8 hrs of CPAP but it was cut short at 6 hrs because of this scare. She will do 8 hours Tuesday.
Cedie weighed 6.88kg (15.2 lbs) today.
She took 12 cc from her bottle but then she fell asleep.
No word yet on when she will have her heart cath done. Should be sometime this week.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Easter Weekend 2006 (4/15 & 4/16)

Cedie had a good Easter weekend. She didn't have any fits and was quite happy all weekend. She did 6 hr CPAP trials on both days and had no problems.

On Saturday, I got to play with her for a long time. However, when it came feeding time she fell asleep after taking only 5cc from her bottle! She took a 20 minute power nap and was back up to play! That 20 minutes was the only nap she took all day and she didn't go to sleep until 9:30! Saturday night her nurse (one of our fav's!) said Cedie was asleep under her blanket kicking her legs in the air. She said it looked like Cedie was having a dream about Easter Egg Hunts!

On Easter Sunday, Cedie had lots of visitors. Her Great Aunt Rita and Great Uncle Charlie came all the way from Texas to see her. Her Nana, G-daddy (Dylan gave him his name), and Aunt Mel-Mel (again, Dylan gave her this name:-)) came to see her as well. Dylan was there too. We all had a nice visit with her. As usual she enjoyed being the center of attention!
By the way, we decided to go with the pink dress! She looked adorable in it. She liked to chew on the lacey part of the skirt!

The Easter bunny brought Cedie a stuffed rabit that plays music, a Leap Frog catipilar that sings all kinds of things, a new pacifier that says "Daddy's Little Girl", a pacifier holder, and her favorite candy- DumDums! She also got several stuffed animals from Nana, Bubba(great great grandma), Aunt Rita, Great Grandmommy, and Great Aunt Becky. What a lucky (and loved) little girl!

Cedie's daddy came back Sunday night from CA (been gone 5 days), and ofcourse he had to go see his little girl! She was so happy to see him. They were so cute together!

Pictures will be posted soon!

Friday, April 14, 2006

See how much I have grown! 6/16-2/14

1













Here are some pictures of Cedie from June to February. The picture with her in the "bubble" is her 1st picture. There are 4 pictures from July around her surgeries. The picture of her in a bonnet was taken in August. The one in the green chair was in Sept. Halloween picture with her brother was in October. Picture of mommy and Cedie was on Thanksgiving Day. She is sitting up by herself in January. The smile in the swing was also in January.

Good Friday 4/14/06





Cedie had a good Good Friday. One of her favorite nurses brought her the cutest t-shirt from the Memphis Zoo. It has a panda bear on it and she looks adorable in it! The "hospital" gave her a little Easter bunny. As you can see in the picture, Cedie likes its ears. She must think they are quite tasty because she kept putting them in her mouth!
She did well on her 4 hrs of CPAP today, she gets to do 6 hrs tomorrow.
MRI results came back: everything was normal (sigh..).
She drank 16cc from her bottle.
Dylan (the big bro) was with us this afternoon. He and Cedie had fun playing together. He kept telling her she was silly because she kept trying to eat her stuffed bunny. He said she thinks its a candy bunny.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Thursday, 4/13/06 - MRI

Back in late February, Cedie's brain MRI showed a little extra fluid. At that time they decided to get a repeat MRI done in a month. Cedie had that repeat MRI done today. Hopefully, we will get the results tomorrow but due to the holiday, it may be Monday before it gets read.

When I went to see her this afternoon, she was still pretty sedated. Scarily sedated. Her heart rate was the lowest I have ever seen it. Her body felt really cold (FYI- Cedie is very hot natured and is more likely to sweat than to be cold). However, once I changed her diaper and got her up she was back to normal. She was happy and we played. She discovered the cross around my neck and decided she just HAD to find a way to get it in her mouth! She is one determined little angel.

She took 13cc from her bottle (she was more interested in eating her bib :-) ).

Cedie weighed 6.84 kg (15.1 lbs) this morning.

Cedie did well on her CPAP today. If she does good tomorrow, she will move up to six hours (remember two weeks ago when she was at 21 hrs.....)

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

4/12/06- Cedie's Mini Fashion Show









The Easter Dress Debate

Today I set out to find the most perfect Easter dress for our little Cedie. The problem: I found two! I debated for a long time and ended up buying both so that I could take them to Cedie. I just couldn't decide which would look better on her! So, Dylan (big brother) and I took the dresses up to the hospital. Cedie was in a really good mood. She let me try both dresses on her and she never fussed. She loved the attention she was getting from her brother and all the nurses and hospital staff who wanted to check out her dresses. She smiled really big for everyone who came to see her mini fashion show!

Cedie did 4 hours a CPAP today. Her nurse said she handled it well. They will continue with another 4 hr trial tomorrow. No fits today! She was a very happy little girl! She drank 19cc from her bottle. She played peek-a-boo with brother. Boy could he make her laugh!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Tuesday, 4/11/06

Cedie had a pretty good day, although it started out rough. They tried her on CPAP but she started coughing again and her CO2 levels were too high. They put her back on her rate and said that they would test her blood gases in the morning and determine whether or not they will let her try CPAP again.
Dylan and I played with her for quite a while this afternoon. She was very happy and the three of us had fun.
She took 15cc from her bottle and then fell asleep (just like yesterday). However, when we went to lay her back down, her eyes popped open and she gave us the cutest smile. It didn't take long to get her settled down for the night and she was quite content when we left her.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Monday, 4/10/06

Cedie was much better today. She seemed like her normal happy self! We played together and she smiled and laughed. I brought her a sucker and she liked it for a little while. She weighed 6.74 kg (14.9 lbs) this morning. She drank 15cc from her bottle before she fell asleep.
We will resume CPAP tomorrow. They are going to start with a 4 hr trial with blood gasses drawn before and after, just to make sure she is over her "bug". If that goes well, they will increase until she gets back to 18 (or maybe 21) hrs.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Sunday, 4/9/06- Mommy's B-Day Party






Cedie looked much better today. She was not coughing and did not seem to struggle with her breathing. No CPAP today but maybe tomorrow.
We had a birthday party for me in her room today. First, we let her play with the eggs her brother brought her. Then we all had birthday cake (chocolate cake with strawberry icing). Cedie LOVED the icing! Cedie smilled SO BIG when everyone sang Happy Birthday to me! Bet she thought we were all singing to her'. When the time came for us to leave, Cedie was sound asleep. We wore her out :-)

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Saturday, 4/8/06

Today was a better day. The day started with a bad spell from 7 to 8(am) but after that everything went smoothly. One of the nurse assistants held Cedie for 2+ hours just so she would remain calm. RSV test came back negative (thank GOD!) They went ahead and started her on an antibiotic that she breathes in, just in case her cultures grow another type of virus.
When I left at 8:30, Cedie was sleeping peacefully, looking like an angel!

Friday, April 07, 2006

Friday, 4/7/06

Cedie had a rough day again. No CPAP trials today, her blood gas numbers were too high. We did finally convince the drs that she was not handling the food increase that they ordered on Monday. They put her back at the volume she was comfortable with so we hope to see improvement in the next day or so.
They also did viral cultures and checked her blood levels. Will know those results tomorrow as well.
They are going to give her some chloral tonight to help her sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Thursday, 4/6/06 (Cardio Consult)

Cedie had a rough start to her day. She was inconsolable from 7am to 10am. Her teeth were really bothering her. They did a chest x-ray and it looked good. They changed her trach in case she had a plug but that didn't help either. They took her off CPAP and put her back on her vent rate. I stayed with her all day to try to help keep her calm. They are going to "let her rest" by keeping her on the vent for 24 hrs. If her blood gas numbers are better tomorrow morning, they will let her resume CPAP.

I met with her new cardiologist this afternoon. He was brought in to review all of Cedie's records and determine if she would benefit from having a cardiac cath done. So, after reviewing all of her records, he thinks she would benefit from a cardiac cath as well as a heart biopsy. It will tell us why her heart is the way it is (thick left ventricle + heart rate issues) so that they can treat it more specifically. They will take readings on the pressures in her heart as well as the oxygen levels. We discussed all the risks as well. A big concern for us is her history with being sedated. He said he would address these concerns with her other doctors as well as the anesthesiologists. We will meet again before the procedure. We are looking at doing this the week after Easter.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Wednesday, 4/5/06


Cedie is doing well today. One of her favorite nurses is back from a wk long vacation so we are all happy. Her teeth started bothering her again this morning. We will be so glad when those teeth finally come in.
She and I had a good time playing peek-a-boo (her most fav game) last night. I tried to bottle feed her but she fell asleep!

She woke up around midnight and the nurse said she was "mad at the world" but after some oralgel and a little comforting, she went back to sleep and slept all night.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Monday (4/3) & Tuesday (4/4)

4/3- Cedie weighs 6.65 kg today (14.7 lbs). She was 6.72 last Thursday. They decided to increase her feeds from 108ml every 3hrs, 7 x per day to 130ml. I guess we will see how she handles this increase. Also, her teeth were bothering her this afternoon. She was trying to bite everything she could get a hold of, even her wires! Ora-gel really helped her out though:-)

4/4- Cedie did well for all of her therapists today. Her physical therapist says her arms aren't as stiff but they need to work on her ankle stiffness. Her speech therapist talked to her daddy about lip exercises we need to try. She started her CPAP trial late so she will only do 12 hrs today but we should go to back to 18 hrs tomorrow.

Cedie's March Pictures




Cedie's Development

Although Cedie has been in the hospital most of her life, she is not letting that stop her from developing! She gets physical, occupational, and speech therapy several times per week. She is 9 1/2 months old and she is able to sit with minimal help, she can hold her head up, she can and does put anything and everything in her mouth, and she plays with all her toys. We recently got her an excersaucer and she is getting her legs stronger! She can roll from side to side and once we get her off the vent and get all those tubes out of the way, I am confident it will take no time at all for to roll all the way over.
As far as her feedings by mouth, I feed her with a special bottle at least once a day. Her record as of 4/3 is 32ml! She has also tried green peas and applesauce. She didn't really know what to think of those but she did pretty good.

CHARGE Syndrome

In March of this year, Cedie was diagnosed with CHARGE Syndrome.
CHARGE is an acronym. C= Coloboma> H= Heart Defects> A= Atresia or Stinosis of the Choanae> R= Retardation of Growth> G= Genetal Defects> E= Ear Anomolies.
Cedie has coloboma in the back of her eyes (luckily it doesn't affect her vision at this point), she has heart defects, stinosis of the choanae, and the ear anomolies is debateable (genetist thinks she has them, we are not convinced).
To learn more about CHARGE visit: http://www.chargesyndrome.org/about-charge.asp

Cedie's Medical History

Cedie was born 6 weeks early because of her mom's out of control blood pressure. She was intubated at birth and taken directly to the NICU. She was extubated 12 hrs later but had to be put under an oxyhood. She was oxygen free after a week but she could not master bottle feeding.
At one month old, they did a swallow test and found that she had severe reflux. During a CT scan, they also found that she had coanal stinosis. This means that her nasal passages are extremely narrow. During an echocardiogram , they found that her heart had a small hole, her PDA was not closed, and her right ventrical was enlarged. We were told that as she grew her heart would get better and her nose would grow. However, as the days went by, she had more and more trouble breathing and eating at the same time. The doctors then decided to send her LeBonheur Children's Hospital in order to get a G-tube to help feed her and have a fundolication (Nissen) done to stop the reflux.
She had these two surgeries done on 7/24/05. She was intubated for the surgery. She stayed intubated for a month after the surgery and was vent dependent. Then, one day in August, Cedie decided she had enough and she extubated herself. They decided to try her under an oxyhood instead of putting her back on the vent. It worked! She went home on 8/19.
On 8/24, she stopped breathing at home and her Daddy had to give her CPR. We then rushed her back to LCH. A broncoscope was done and they found that she has paralyzed vocal cords. On 9/2, she had a tracheotomy. She has been vent dependent since the procedure. We have gotten close to coming off a couple times now. As of 7/1/06, she doesn't require any oxygen support or pressure support. She is on a breaths per minute rate of 12 (very minimal). We still hope to have her off one day.
She has had a heart cath, a heart biposy, a lung biopsy, and many other non-evasive tests (MRI, EEG, etc) in order to try to determine why she is requiring the vent. No luck yet.
In February, after a hearing test, we found that she had severe hearing loss in her rt ear and moderate loss in the left. They did an MRI and found that she had tiny ear canals and fluid build up. The first of March she had tubes put in her right ear to help with the drainage. Her left ear canal was too narrow. She repeated the hearing test in May. This time she had moderate loss in the rt and minimal loss in the lt. In July, her hearing was impaired again. They went in a cleaned out both ears but they could not get a tube in the left ear.