Tess is amazing

It'll be interesting to see what Tess' personality is like when she's older. I'm guessing it'll be one where unfortunate things don't bother her as much as they bother others. I say that because if I was in her position right now, I'd be flat-out pissed. But she's not. As I type, she's in her little bed sleeping. I hear a groan every few minutes, but for the most part she's fairly calm.

The picture: She's got the oxygen tube in her nose (like you've seen in pictures last week), the NG tube travels from her stomach out her nose and that's taped to the side of her head, she's got the three heart monitor nodes stuck to her chest, the pulse and oxygen monitor on her left finger, the PICC on her right arm, and both legs in a brace that splay them wide open. Her body is swollen again from the anesthesia and the fluids she's been getting all day. It's got to suck big time.

Dr. Booker and Dr. Brazil (his name is really Novais, but let's stick with Brazil since he thought that was funny) operated on both hips. They pulled some "gunk" (Dr. Booker's word) out of both hips. There wasn't any obviously infected puss, but they've sent it all for further testing. The left hip was a little worse than the right. And cartilage was intact, but appeared to have obviously been under some stress. Dr. Booker felt safe saying that there isn't any infection in the hips.

In other orthopedic news, both of her hips are currently in their sockets. The doctors fitted her with a rigid brace that will hold both hips in place. We'll remove it for diaper changes, but otherwise it stays on until further notice. This may be enough to fix her left hip!

Now our focus moves to the recently developed inflammation in her bowels and stomach. We really don't have any specific detail to share. Tess has had two x-rays and an ultrasound of the area today and it doesn't appear to be getting worse. However, there are pockets of air stuck in sections of her bowel. The NG tube will help pump some of that air out of her stomach, but it can't get to the air in the intestines. Really we just need Tess' bowels to kick into gear and start moving it on out. We're hearing lots of theories and potential treatments, but nothing concrete yet. I'm sure there will be lots of developments on this front tomorrow. As I'm typing here I've heard several farts (from Tess!) and that's a great sign.

Rest assured that she is stable, comfortable and resting peacefully (with an occasional cute little groan).