Well, Casey is officially no longer a premie – today was her due date, and last night she was right at 7lbs too!
Once space opens up at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood (also called Mattel Children’s Hospital), Casey is going to be transferred for a gastric feeding tube and possibly a Nissen fundoplication. Our neonatologist and pediatric surgeon want to do the surgery at Mattel’s in order to perform the procedure laparoscopically and reduce recovery time.
We went over to Westwood and toured the NICU yesterday and were pretty overwhelmed. St. John’s is brand new, quiet, and isn’t a teaching hospital – Mattel’s is the opposite. We know Mattel’s is where she will get the best surgery for her, so we are just hoping it won’t be for long. Casey is definitely used to the nurses and environment at St. John’s.
We expect her to be there for at least a few days and hopefully not more than a week, depending on how quickly she recovers. After she stabilizes from surgery, we are getting her moved back to St. John’s until she is ready to come home.
Currently they expect Casey to be moved next Wednesday and are trying to schedule the surgery for next Thursday (May 25th), but it all depends on availability.
Tomorrow Casey is having an upper GI test done so the gastroenterologist can consult with the surgeon on the Nissen details. While down in radiology, Casey will also be having her second head CT scan to compare with the first one she had a couple weeks ago. This will help the neurologist with making a better long term prognosis.
That’s about it for now – will post more after we have test results and transfer dates…
