Thursday, November 18, 2010

Bravo for the Broviac

Hope is back from her broviac surgery. This is a surgically inserted central line. They made the incision in Hope's groin but the line actually comes out of her chest. It's kind of creepy, but I'm so thankful for it. Now they will not have to poke her anymore. This line should theoretically last a long time and they can use it for everything she might need - nutrition, antibiotics, blood (though hopefully we don't have to go there). But the really cool thing is that they can also draw blood out of it so that she won't have to get all those heel pricks anymore. Yippee! The nurse was telling me that she was very impressed by the skill of the surgeon. He was able to give her a sort of spinal and thereby avoid the ventilator. Yay ! At the moment Hope is out on morphine and looked very comfortable. As I stood over her I was counting the holes from IV and picc attempts, surgery incisions and whatnot. I counted 18, but that was just what I could see or knew about. I didn't move her around at all to look for more. Suffice it to say she looked like a pin cushion. I'm so glad she won't need any more pokes!

If anyone is interested in knowing more about broviacs, check out this page: http://surgery.med.umich.edu/pediatric/clinical/patient_content/a-m/broviac_placement.shtml

3 comments:

  1. I hated those heel pricks! I don't even know why they call them heel pricks. They are more like heel gashes in tiny babies! I am so glad to hear she does not have to be a pin cushion any more!

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  2. Just letting you know we prayed for Hope at our missions committee meeting tonight. I try to ask for prayer for you guys as often as I can. So happy to hear about this bit of progress.

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  3. I'm the mother of 5 2nd trimester babies, 3 who were born too early to survive and 2 sweet 27weekers who, after 9 weeks in the NICU, came home and, praise be to God, doing well. One of my blog readers directed me here, and I wanted to let you know that my family is praying for yours and, if you ever need to talk, please dont hesitate to email me. My daughter, Maya, had stage 2 plus ROP which was corrected with laser surgery, and has fine vision, which, as I was reading about Hope, I pray will be her outcome as well.

    Sending up prayers to God on Hope- and your families- behalves.

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