HOME AGAIN !

Great News! Allison is home again! We brought her home Saturday afternoon. As soon as we put her up in her wheelchair to leave the hospital, she started squealing and giggling. She wore herself out in about 20 minutes and slept all the way home. Over the final 4-5 days that we were in the hospital, she had been really uncomfortable and every night at/around bedtime, she got really cranky and fussy. The first night home, she didnt complain at all and had a huge smile on her face as Amy put her in her own bed for the first time in 2 weeks. She was very relaxed and went right to sleep. She really acts like she missed being home and Keala is ecstatic that "sissy" is home again.
The doctors ended up deciding to not perform any surgery at this time in regards to the hernia that we still believe she has. The surgeon actually ended up telling us that he doesn't believe she has a hernia, but if she doesnt, then where did all the bleeding come from and what was on the xray from the ER that caused the docs there to tell us there was a hernia? Things that make you say hmmmmmmmmmmm. Also, after weeks of arguing back and forth with the surgeon, he FINALLY admitted that the Nissen was wrapped too tightly all along, and has caused her esophagus to stretch out from all the secretions pooling at the nissen site, and now resembles a chemistry beaker. To allow it to heal itself and hopefully shrink back down to normal, they have decided to try to keep her secretions from pooling at the bottom by constant suction of the secretions.
She has an NG tube placed in her nose that travels into her lower esophagus, and hooked up to contant low volume suction. The idea is that by not alllowing the secretions to pool, the esophagus "should" heal itself in approximately 6 weeks. She has also come home with a PICC line in case she gets any type of bug, they can start IV meds or antibiotics, or if they need to get any blood woork done etc... That means ANY fever and we go directly to the ER for blood cultures to make sure she doesnt have an infection. It also means weekly trips to the doc for dressing changes, since it needs to be done in a sterile environment. So, yet another 6 weeks of waiting and watching and, hopefully, nursing care and respite care. We have already had 1 scare, She had a low grade fever at home Sunday night, and Amy took her to the ER for the blood work. While they were waiting to be seen, Amy had the nurse check her temp and the fever was GONE ! So they came home, and will check in with our primary care doc first thing in the morning. Hopefully, this will not be an indicator of things to come.
More to come soon.