Payton is my Hero

I very much hope that today we summited our last hard day and from here (even if slow) the drama at the NICU is behind us.

It was a hard day for Payton today and she handled it well.  All things considered I think, despite the scars that will remain, she's a much happier baby because of it too.

When I got to the NICU this morning I was hoping to catch the docs on rounds.  I missed them and we hung with Payton and got updated by her nurse.

Of course Payton was still on minimal 1ml/hr feeds but we learned that her IV in her head got removed and her IV in her hand was failing (I've lost count of how many IV's she's had).  The concern was that she didn't have many good veins left and we still needed at least one for her PICC when she was ready.   They tried to place two IV's (and draw blood) on two different locations before we arrived and failed.  They then decided to leave her until the NICU's best nurse could give it a try.

She also tested postive for an infection (duh) but that meant that Radiology wouldn't be putting in a PICC line today after all (since it would likely just get infected as well).  Until she tested negative for cultures she had to wait for a PICC line.  So today (after 2 days of antibiotics) they wanted to test her blood again for the infection.  Problem is they were having problems drawing blood (they had tried on her other hand and her foot that morning and failed).  There was talk of using an artery to get her blood (and then a 2 day wait to culture so sooner than later perferable).

So we were waiting for Charlie, the best nurse in the ward to place the IV. 

While waiting the surgeon arrived and she checked the incision (albiet behind surgery tape) and the infection.  She commented that redness was much better. She lifted a bit of the surgery tape and then it happend...a whole lot of puss came pouring out of her incision and that was the beginning of a very surreal and tough experience for Payton - thankfully she won't remember it.

While I held her hands and tried to sooth her the surgeon continued to push out the puss.  It was decided very quickly that they needed to open her incision and pack the wound.  So the surgeon proceeded to cut open her incision and then prodded and probed to make sure all the puss was gone.  She then stuffed gauze into the wound where they will leave it to heal like that.  I did ask if we could give her pain relief after it was determined that they would need to open the wound.  No time to let it take affect so they didn't bother.  Payton cried like I've never seen her cry while they did this. 

Suffice to say Payton will have a very nasty looking scar there.  We figure we may be some of the few parents who will support our 16 year old daughter in getting a tatoo (though plastic surgery may be an option later we'll let her decide).

The great news is that there is no doubt that Payton much more comfortable now that the abcess is gone.  She quickly calmed down and shortly after I held her...she hardly moved she was so comfortable.

While holding her we notice how much more settled she was even from before draining the abcess and much better than yesterday.

After a while Charlie finally arrived to place her new IV.

He tried hard.  He tried her foot but failed.  Then he asked how attached I was to her hair.  At the time since only Payton was attached to her hair I felt it ok...that she would thank me if she had one less poke. In total, today it took 4 IV attemps before sucessfully placing her IV.

So we (Charlie) shaved another spot on her head and with Payton kicking and screaming we placed her IV in her head.

On other news they are now giving Payton 1ml/hr through her GJ tube (the one surgically placed) so we'll see how she handles feeds through that tube. 

She also had her OG tube removed and now her mouth is totally free.  She sucks a bit better on her soother so I think she's pretty happy about that.

Here's a few pictures of the little one and her new look.  I'm hopefull that this new IV will last at least until she gets her PICC.

They are saying we can expect Radiology to take her by Monday so until then we'll have her nose tube and she'll just be getting feeds via her IV and the little bit through her GJ tube.

Oh, and its important to share that she pooped a yellowish poop today!!  Yay for breastmilk making its way down into the poop :)