The Sattler Scoop: Ups and Downs

Casey has had some ups and downs the last few days. They have decreased her backup rate on her CPAP to 6 (this means she gets 6 breaths per minute to remind her to breathe). Overall she is having way fewer A/B episodes (aka bradys) which is a huge relief, and she is mostly recovering from them on her own without stimulation. Her feeds had been increased to 10 mL every three hours, but last night when we visited she again had some residuals in her belly from a previous feeding, and even more concerning she was spitting up. She had an x-ray to see if the cause was the position of her feeding tube, and the results showed it was in a good position. Because her temperature was also a little low, the doctor decided to draw some labs and start her on antibiotics as a precaution in case the results showed any infection. When I spoke with the doctor today he was fairly confident that it was not an infection, but instead was a side effect of being anemic. She had another transfusion last night, and she seems to be doing much better today. The official results should take several days, but prayers are requested that the results come back negative and that she can tolerate her feeds when they restart them so that she starts to gain weight.

I am so appreciative of all the prayers for my vision. I met with an opthamologist on Friday and thankfully he did not see any retina damage. We were concerned that I might have some due to the drastic change I experienced after going on insulin, but I am finally starting to see some improvement. I even drove for the first time in over a month, and I am finally feeling like I may be getting some independence back (which if you know me at all you know I am NOT good at asking for help) so this is a big step forward. It is a very strange feeling to not be at work for the first day of school today, but I am more hopeful that I will be able to go back to work in a few weeks and I can save the majority of my maternity leave for when Casey comes home. I also started Diabetes Education classes this week (try not to be jealous) to learn about carbohydrate counting, which should help me have much more control over my blood sugar. On the plus side the classes are at the same hospital as Casey so I will get to squeeze in an extra visit with our sweet girl every day.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and words of encouragement. Here are the latest pics of the Doodlebug: