TCH Update

We are still here. Yesterday was a pretty eventful day between the problems with her IV on the right arm. I think it took 4 different people and 7 different tries to finally start another IV . . . that was not happy times and mama was not a happy camper. After all that was over - Torah did settle down and they finally got her 2nd blood transfusion in late last night.

This morning Torah had a an exam done of her stomach and duodenum (upper intestine) called Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The GI doctors (LIU and BRUMBAUGH) were looking for any active bleeding or ulcers in her stomach area, esophagus, and upper intestine (duodenum). Good news is that they did not find any active or new blood, Torah's esophagus looked great and her stomach looked good as well. They did find a ulcer in the duodenum, but it was not irritated or bleeding. The doctors are not really sure where all the blood came from, but they have decided to up her Previcid an they will also give her some Carafate to coat her stomach and help anything heal over the next week or so. Dr. B told me that they want to keep her over night to make sure that she recovers from the exam and also so that they can test her blood levels a few more times to make sure that they stay up. I think that Friday, when we were at the Douglas ER, Torah's blood level was around 15 or less and yesterday before they started the next blood transfusion (around 6pm) her level was around 21. Today when they tested her - the level was back up to 30, so lets just hope that it stays up.
I do not think that much else will go on today. The nurse was worried about a upper respitory infection and wanted Respitory therapy to suction Torah out a few times during the day. My only worry with that is that they will want to do the deep suctioning (which will not help) and if they do - they do not dismiss any kid that has had that type of treatment in the last 24 hours. So, hopefully they just stick to the nose and mouth area. We seem to through this every visit here at TCH.
Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers for Torah, they have helped more than you know!