January 12, 2006 - Early Morning

Our girl has another challenge that could use some prayers and good karma sent her way this morning from everyone that has any extra to spare. The good news is that they DID take her feeding tube out yesterday so we know that she has to be a lot more comfortable. The bad news is that they took it out because they were concerned her nausea was more significant than just the flu. She was taken for a CT scan and sonogram on her tummy yesterday and they discovered that she has acute pancreatitis. (We found information on the NIH website here regarding: http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/pancreatitis/) They have started her on an IV and are restricting her to liquids only by mouth to keep her hydrated. They really aren't sure what pancreatitis is caused by (although we have to guess that the stress her body has been under and the drugs that she's had to endure to help get her to this point hasn't helped) and it sometimes just goes away on its own. That's what we're all hoping for, but we're going to talk to the doctor today about what the treatment options are right now. The good news is that she doesn't seem to be too uncomfortable and although a bit tired, she is still talking to us and doing her normal stuff.

Despite feeling under the weather, she had a good day with Yvonne yesterday. The following is an excerpt from Yvonne's day with our girl. "She was able to get in some of her OT today. And even though she couldn’t go down to do her PT I brought up some therapy tools to work with her. She did 2 puzzles and really seemed engrossed in them. I would put the perimeter of the puzzle on and she would have to find the interior pieces. Even though she may not have got them right the first time, she continued until she did find the correct piece and maneuvered it in to place. We did these for quite some time then took a break and began reading a picture dictionary. This she really enjoyed as she flipped through the book until she got to the pictures and glanced at them for a bit, even pointing and making comments such as, ‘pretty’, ‘nice’. She continued to turn the pages, breezing through the ones with no pictures, and when she was finished, she started all over again. We also looked at cute animals dressed up in their Halloween Costumes. She particularly liked one of a lizard riding a horse! We then went through some pictures I have saved on my computer from Christine’s (Yvette’s girl) Quincinera (sp?). I have to brag a bit because when I pointed out my daughter Brooke who was in Christine’s ceremony, Mandy said ‘she’s pretty’. I then gave Mandy a manicure with a hot red color. She seemed to be enjoying the pampering!"