Steps in the right direction

Ellie's has moved out of the post op phase an right into the improvement phase this week.

• She has started her feeds again and instead of feeding her through her G-tube, we are giving her as much as we can through her mouth. This was tough for the first while but with some persistence and a little bit of sucrose, we were able to convince her that bottles are good and that the full feeling her belly is a very good thing. She now sucks down respectable sized bottles (20 ml) every hour or two and squawks whe the bottle is done. Good signs.
• Her ostomy continues to work as planned. The food goes in her mouth and shortly afterward it flows out of her ostomy after being digested in her stomach and absorbed in her small bowel.
• The outflow from her ostomy is just the right amount and hasn't gone out of control like it does with some kids. She is right on track with her output.
  

The doctors are very happy.

Which leads to the best news so far: if all goes well and barring any delays because of infections, etc we could be going home on schedule with the 4-6 week post op release

We have started the train rolling and are in basic training again with the teaching pros here at Children's to learn all fo the ins and outs of Short Gut care that we haven't picked up yet. Evn with home nursing, we are the primary care givers for Ellie and need to know all of the procedures. tomorrow we start on IV pumps.

Cautiously optimistic is the way we are moving and we always want to be a week late going home than a week ealry.

If anyone mentions the holiday at the end of next month or a particular Bing Crosby song, so help me............