So, I realized the other day that I never did post about Kara's U.G.I. study (upper gastro-intestinal). It was quite, shall we say, educational.
It was about 2 weeks ago, and was phase 1 to get ready for a G-tube (tube going straight through her skin to her stomach). They do this to get a feel for Kara's anatomy so that the surgeons do not have "surprises" when they go to put in a G-tube.
We went to Bellevue Children's (hooray for Bellevue!). Kara needed an empty stomach, so NPO (nothing by mouth) for 3 hrs. They had me change her to a hospital gown and place her on her back on a board, for a chest x-ray. We strapped her chest in, and then 2 straps on her legs (one for thigh, one for calves). Then (here's where I wish I had a picture, it's hard to describe and imagine) we strapped her arms up over her head, by her ears. Poor baby, that made her cry. She got out of her leg straps a few times, and the tech commented that she was quite strong (yes, we know! She kicked me for almost a whole 9 months).
After the initial chest x-rays, the radiologist came in and operated a video x-ray. They gave her barium to drink (shows up on the x-ray) and watched her stomach fill and empty. Apparently different positions help it to empty. So the tech operated Kara's board by a circle near her head and swiveled Kara (upside down, lateral, oblique) as directed by the radiologist. You could say it was her first roller coaster ride. As this was happening (I was above Kara's head, holding her poor little hand), the tech said that we wait for her stomach to empty. He said that if she was older, he would talk to her about food and that would get the system going. Amazing, right!?! God has designed an amazing work of art in our bodies that can produce gastric juices just by hearing about food!
God was gracious and allowed her stomach to digest fairly quickly and the whole process only took about 20 minutes.
We have yet to meet with the surgeons since then. We are going to try another "wean" (meaning give Kara less calories by tube to encourage her to EAT!) starting this week to have more info for the surgeons. Kara actually took an ENTIRE feed yesterday by mouth. (Her normal is about half). So we are cautiously optimistic that she will, in fact, improve.
On a completely different note, ladies' Bible study at church this morning was such a refresher. Great time to be with ladies and connect. I am so looking forward to studying 2 Thessalonians this summer.
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