We are starting to see signs of life... glimpses of our little girl are showing through the paralysis. I was discouraged during "rounds" this morning, when her arms, legs, gag reflex, and pupil response were unchanged from yesterday. This morning, the only improvement we could see was that she was moving her tongue. (She always has been known stick out her tounge.) However, as soon as her "team" of doctors left the room, Vita began moving a little bit more. She opened both eyes just a sliver, and we could see that she saw us. She's making very subtle facial expressions, too. She tried to smile once... but other than that her facial expressions are mostly just cringing in pain. It's hard to watch, but even cringing in pain is progress in her recovery. Her breathing is good, and they continue to step down the breathing machine. They are hoping that maybe in a day or two they'll be able to remove the tube down her throat and get her off the breathing machine. As soon as they do I'll be able to hold her again. I haven't held her in... I can't remember how many days. So, we just get as close as we can, and hold her hand, and sing to her, and she knows we're there.
Pictured below is Dr. June, checking in on Vita. Dr. June saved Vita's life. Since infant botulism is so rare, it doesn't jump to the top of people's minds... The doctors from Dominican sent Vita over here with a suspected bowel obstruction. However, Dr. June gave Vita's tummy a squeeze and knew right away it wasn't a tummy problem. Her quick and accurate analysis of Vita helped to ensure Vita got the fancy antitoxin (BabyBIG) right away, and thus greatly shortened the duration of the illness.
Ernie and I have found many ways to entertain ourselves while we await Vita's recovery. For example, we had a contest to see who could come up with a better name for the "print" on the curtains in the PICU. I called the print "arctic carnival" and Ernie called it "carribean raindrops". Who do you think came up with the better name?
As you probably read in the previous post, the diagnosis for botulism involves injecting poop into mice and seeing if they die. (Are we in the middle ages?) Anyway, they can't tell how much botulism was in the poop, since it's a yes or no kind of test result. However, anecdotally, there are theories that the faster the mouse dies, the more toxin was in the poop, and the longer the recovery. Apparently, our mouse died quickly. Also, there are two types of infant botulism, type A and type B. Vita has type A, which is associated with longer recovery times.
So, unfortunately... Vita's got it pretty bad. However, we're so encouraged to be seeing signs of life, and after all... Vita means "life".
Posts
