Thank you to all who have commented on our new blog. You can subscribe to our blog so that you will automatically receive e-mail updates when we write a new post. You can also leave comments on each post, not sure if you need to register your e-mail address first. If you feel more comfortable, you can continue to e-mail us at our AOL address. Either way we love to hear from you! I don't think that we could have started this at a better time. It has been an absolutely exhausting week! Today we had our fourth doctors appointment of the week, gastroenterology. It proved to be extremely informative. We learned today that they are going to look more closely at Lucy's anatomy. They are interested in examining her upper GI area to see if she has any abnormalities in her anatomy, as well as looking at how Lucy's body swallows, and how her stomach empties. She will have an upper GI(UGI) procedure on Tuesday, November 11th and a gastric emptying scan possibly on Friday of the same week. Both procedures are not possible to do on the same day because the UGI requires barium, and she can not have any traces of barium in her stomach for the gastric emptying scan. These procedures are day procedures. Both tests require Lucy to fast for four hours prior to the test. Does anyone else see the irony in that? The UGI takes about an hour if she cooperates, but the gastric emptying scan can take up to four hours. In addition to those two procedures Lucy will also need an UGI endoscopy and a sigmoidoscopy. Both of these procedures involve using an endoscope to look at the inside of Lucy's organs. These two procedures require anaesthesia and will be preformed at the same time. We will know more about when she will have the later two procedures after we get the results back from the former two procedures. While Lucy is under anaesthesia they feel that this will be the opportune time to place the nasal gastric (NG) tube into her. She will hopefully feel little to no discomfort. They will be able to place the tube and secure it firmly to her face with tape. Their hope is that she will not notice the tube right away, not sure that's realistic but we'll see. The later procedures will require a stay at the hospital. At this time they will train Drew and I on how to tube feed Lucy as well as how to place the tube should she pull it out. All of this is overwhelming to us so I'm sure it is to you as well! We feel some relief in knowing that we are doing more than just waiting, but wish we could make this easier on Lucy. We have come to the conclusion that these procedures are necessary and will hopefully provide us with some much needed information. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we are preparing for another long week of doctor's appointments. Keep Jack, Megan, and Sophie in your thoughts and prayers as well as they are feeling the stress of the situation. Jack asked us today when we picked them up from our friends house, "Did they figure it out yet Mom?"
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