A lot of folks have asked about how Ellie is plumbed with her new shimmy accessories. As Abby changed Eleanor’s diaper last night I took a picture of her while she was between clothes to share with you and explain her tubes.
The tube coming out of her belly is her ‘G-tube’, that goes into her stomach. This is her the access point in and out of her belly. Right now the doctors are siphoning extra fluid from her stomach through this tube, but will eventually will be a tube through which she receives more traditional nutrition (breast milk, etc) in addition to her IV tubes.
The tube coming from her right foot is her central line, a more permanent version of and IV that is snaked up her leg and into a larger blood vessel near her hip. This is more durable than an IV and allows the doctirs to give her fluids that can’t go through an IV.
The wire on her chest are the monitors for her heart, and breathing. These cause us great angst when she cries because her heart rate goes through the roof and makes the monitor beep. The nurse on Sunday told us that they like crying babies:’Its good for their lungs.’ Bad for my heart though.
She also has an oxygen sensor that gets attached to different limbs throughout the day.
And thankfully, for now, that is it for her wiring diagram. Let’s hope it stays this way for a while.
1 comment:
Damn, she's a cute kid. Wires, tubes and all.
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