Hospital Day 4

We finally have answers!!! First thing this morning Ava had her ultrasound, it showed she has pyloric stenosis, which is a thickening of the muscle of the lower end of the stomach, wand the thick muscle prevents food from entering the intestines. So that is why she has been vomiting, because nothing is able to get out of her belly. The only way to fix the problem is surgery, so she will have a pyloromyotomy. This surgery will be done at Sacred Heart by a pediatric surgeon. So we will be heading to Spokane. Andy has pulled some strings so the Moscow Ambulance is going to transport us up. My friend and fellow nurse, Rebecca is also a Paramedic, so she is going to take us up with Phil and Bill (who are both paramedic students).

Ava in her carseat riding in the ambulance for the first time, hopefully the last as a patient.

We arrived at Sacred Heart Children Center around 2pm. Here is Ava in her tiny bed, after the LONG ambulance ride.



Ava did well in surgery, the only complication was she took a little longer to wake up from anesthesia than normal. While she was still sleeping in the recovery room, they started a new IV, so she wouldn't feel it. Here is Ava in the recovery room, our first sight of our sweet little girl. She has 2 tiny scars on either side of her belly and one in her belly button.



Around 8pm, we went back up to Ava's room on the peds floor. They gave her tylenol in the recovery room, but she still didn't seem to be very comfortable. We swaddled her up in warm blankets and she had her binkie, but she was still very fussy and she couldn't eat until 1am. The doctor specifically said she couldn't have narcotics, as in little ones it can decrease their drive to breath and keep them too sleepy, so they won't eat. So around 10:30p we got her some sugar water to dip her binkie in and that solved the problem, she slept for about 4 hours.

It has been a very stressful and busy day, but we have answers and the problem has been fixed and she is on the road to recovery.