Post Broviac

Last Wednesday (22 Sep), after much debate and a week’s worth of trial and error, the doctors suggested we move ahead with the placement of a central line catheter as the last move to help Emmie grow. Her weight gain had plateaued at 3lbs. 2oz for about three weeks and no matter what they tried, they couldn’t seem to get her to absorb what she needed in order to keep her on her growth curve. So, the surgeon over at Children’s Hospital inserted a Broviac Catheter into little Emmie’s chest and we have seen AMAZING improvement in the last few days. She was only on oxygen support during the procedure itself and was put back on room air as soon as she was back in her pod. She is already 4lbs. 10oz and is starting to look more like a baby doll and less like a preemie. We are so encouraged each day to see her put on weight and are optimistic that the Broviac will work beautifully to get her to the weight that she ultimately needs to get to in order for the pediatric surgeon to come back over and put her tummy back together to take advantage of full motility of her tummy and finally remove the Broviac. We are looking forward with great anticipation to the day they can put her plumbing back together as that should be the final milestone needed to start discussing her “graduation” from the NICU. If she keeps up the weight like she has been, we will get there sooner than planned. Our little girl is an amazing miracle to watch. It is incredibly humbling to watch the Lord work through the medical staff here at the hospital each day in how they care for little Emmie. There are so many people concerned about and praying over this girl and we see those prayers answered in the eyes of the staff here and in the strength we feel each day.

On a side note, we would like to enlist the help of all of our prayer warriors out there to pray for our friend Lynne and her young family. She delivered her first son a few weeks ago 9 weeks early and has been incredibly strong here in the NICU. She and her husband have been stationed down at Fort Carson down in the Springs and he is currently deployed in Afghanistan. She just informed us that her husband was injured during his deployment a few days ago and lost both his right arm and leg. We can’t even imagine the amount of stress this girl has gone through to date and it appears to be taking its toll on this young woman who has shown incredible strength and maturity so far. She is going to need strength far beyond her own to weather this and we all know that He can comfort us in ways beyond our understanding. We ask that if you think of it, to please keep her in your prayers.