General Update

Since we last posted, not much and a lot has happened. Susan was discharged on Thursday. I'll let her post about how she's doing, but the first night home was rather rough. It's hard for us to remember that even though she's feeling better, she's not 100%.

Whitney doesn't know it yet, but she's been treated like a celebrity. Her distinguished visitors include her grandparents, all of her aunts and uncles (including the ones in Indiana), a great-aunt, her ministers, and such lesser distinguished persons as multiple perinatologists, her pediatric neurosurgeon, her pediatric plastic surgeon, her pediatrician, and umpteen wonderful nurses. Despite her father's protestations, several of the aforementioned distinguished guests as well as sundry well-wishers have labelled her "princess."

Whitney no longer has an IV (for the time being, at least). Whitney's veins are so small that each IV tended to last for only a day before it became blocked. After the IV in her head, she had three more IVs--another in her head and two in her arms. All told Whitney has had six IVs and about a dozen different holes in her head, hands, and arms. After the sixth IV failed, the nurses were unable to find a suitable vein and attempted to place a central line in what remains of her umbilical cord. Those of you who have had babies know that after six days, there is not much left of the umbilical cord. We were happy to learn last night that the attempt to place the line failed and the doctors decided that Whitney did not need an IV. I got to feed her this morning without an IV in the way for the first time.

Whitney is glad that someone finally paid attention to the fact that those needles hurt, and she does not appreciate them. Why her very loud protests while the nurses were placing all those IVs were ignored remains a mystery.

Whitney stopped receiving morphine and fluids through the IV on Wednesday or Thursday. We kept the IV in place so that Whitney could receive antibiotics to prevent an infection at her surgery site and to prepare her for the shunt surgery. Because the shunt surgery has been delayed (more on that later), the IV is not currently necessary.

Who knew that I could spend 3 paragraphs on IVs? In any event, we thank the Lord for these small things. The removal of the IV is a small step toward Whitney coming home.

Sorry for the delay in posting.