Directly home

I think we are going to skip the rehabilitation hospital and take Ella home, when she is discharged from Children’s hospital. After a tour I did yesterday at Franciscan Children’s hospital, which is a rehabilitation-focused hospital, I thought that perhaps it isn’t such a great fit for Ella (or us). Ella doesn’t have any medical issues that need care in a rehab hospital, and we feel we can tend to Ella’s needs better at home. The hospital will provide physical therapy for about an hour or hour and a half a day. There is nothing else for Ella there for the rest of the day. Today Ella is making a lot of use of her right hand, grabbing things and putting her fingers in her mouth. Surprisingly, she is also showing some (minor) movements of her left hand, hopefully that will increase. The feeding test yesterday (they followed food down with live x-ray) showed that Ella is swallowing correctly and so we started feeding her solid foods. For now it is applesauce and cereal. The tube feeding continues for now, until she is able to eat enough. The neurosurgeon said her CAT scan showed an enlarged ventricle. This is not good news and could indicate an onset of hydrocephalus. He said it is early to jump to conclusions. After surgery with the new space made available things move around. Another CAT scan will be done in about four weeks. We will probably be going home with Ella in a day or two (barring any other complications). I think being home will be good for Ella, She loves her bed and loves music we play her there. It’s about time.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 14th, 2002 at 4:53 pm and is filed under Ella's Log. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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