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It’s in…

November 4, 2010

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Lucy’s central line is in and after several hours of searching for the final radiologists report, we are now able to use it!  They left Lucy’s femoral line in so that they could use it during her procedure.  Thank God they did because we would not have been able to feed Lucy her TPN this afternoon since we did not get approval to use her new line until 5:30 pm.  Although, something tells me that they would have found the radiologists report sooner if that was the case.  We chose to place a single lumen (one port)  Broviac because the risk of infection and vein damage was less than if we placed a double (two ports) lumen Broviac.  Dr R thought that if/when Lucy gets and infection and her need for two ports becomes necessary, then we will most likely replace the line for a two lumen Broviac.  For now we are going to do our best to minimize her risk of getting an infection.

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Lucy’s procedure went well, and she was in and out of the OR  in just about two hours.  They let me dress in scrubs and take her back to the OR  to help ease her transition,  I think we all appreciated that.  The anesthesiology team that worked on Lucy told us that it took A LOT of Propofol to keep her still during her procedure.  They wanted to get her out of the OR as soon as possible since they kept having to administer more medication.  According to every anesthesiologist we have meet, apparently red heads are are difficult to put to sleep.  I can attest to that as a non anesthesiologist. 

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Lucy was wide awake when we were reunited with her after her procedure, and she stayed wide awake until 5:20 pm, even with all of the medication she had today.  Lucy is one strong willed little girl! 

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Just after we finally got Lucy to sleep, the residents came to us telling us that they  had to pull out her femoral line.  My response, “are you kidding, let’s wait until she wakes up.”  I stood my ground and told them that they would have to wait for her to wake up.  Their response, “she might just sleep right through it.”  Thank God the resident who has been assigned to us during this admission knew enough about our girl to say, “not Lucy, she is a very light sleeper.”  It was eventually agreed that Dr R would pull the line in the morning.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, care and concern, it means the world to us!

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Alicia said...

Hooray! Soooo glad to see her happy little face and know that everything went well. We are still saying lots of prayers and hope you both can go home soon. We love you and miss you!

Susan said...

My daughter, Cora, just told me tonight that every day at recess she has taken a few minutes to sit on a bench and pray for Lucy in her head! I told her that made my heart happy, and asked if I could share that with you, so it could make your heart happy too. She's not one to really pray a whole lot, so I'm blessed by this in more than one way. So thankful that Lucy's procedure went well today. Hopefully that means that home-going is sooner rather than later?!?! I'm sure you're ready to have a break from the hospital by now!! Sleep well tonight.
Susan

Amber Greenawalt said...

Our little guy Sebastian had a port. He is also a red head who has gone under more times than I can count and he always takes lots of propofol. But with Savannah we have been told by our mito specialist to never ever use it because it inhibits mitochondrial respiration and can cause
metabolic acidosis. Even carry this special anesthsia protocol letter in her records. We've switched to sevoflurane for her procedures. Intersting to see the whole propofol thing can be okay. :) and so glad miss Lucy's insertion went well. I've been checking in on the blog everyday and praying for y'all!
(((HUGS)))

Helen A said...

Was looking up how to make protector for Lucy's lines, maybe you can share with your mom. Here are instructions on how to make a line protector
http://grey.colorado.edu/shortgut/index.php/Instructions_to_make_a_home_made_line_protector

or http://www.summerslifeguard.com/instructions.html
Helen

Monica said...

I have been following your hospital journey....good for you for speaking up!!

I hope you all can go home soon.

Hang in there.

Jessica said...

Great! I'm so relieved the procedure went well! It would be a good idea to look into a line guard vest for her of some sort, as those lines can get lulled out or broken much easier than you'd think- and that is a life-threatening crisis!

Summer's Life Vest is pretty good, although we had a similar version mage for us. ANother useful website is
www.gusgear.net
These line covers cover the actual IV lines themselves and keep both the lines out from underfoot and untangled (A big +) but add some protection:
www.gusgear.net
we use the 96 cm lines and when E was on feeds we'd run her IV tubing and feeding lines into a single cover and keep them both away from fingers and tangles...

I hope you are home soon!