It has been a good week. Over the last few days we have noticed Elyse's personality starting to return and she is acting more and more like her old self -- complete with smiles, giggles, and her sweet baby babbling. She has been weaned completely off the methadone, and will continue to wean off the clonidine over the next few weeks. Interestingly enough, clonidine is primarily a medication used to treat high blood pressure, so the slow weaning process is not so much for the withdrawal as it is for the rebound hypertension that may occur if it is discontinued too quickly.
happy to see that smile again
We are still struggling with her feeding, and trying to get her off of the NG tube. After being intubated for so long, she has most likely developed a bit of oral aversion, and I can only assume some muscle weakness too. We are working alongside the Occupational Therapy (OT) team here at CHEO, and they have been great at suggesting a few exercises and techniques to try to make her more comfortable.
the wild 'do came back too
The other issue is that because of her feeding schedule (every 3 hours over an hour and a half), I don't think she gets hungry enough to want to drink anything else by mouth. So this weekend we are trying without the feeding tube for a few meals, to see if she will be more willing to take the bottle when she stops feeling full all the time. And hopefully once she is comfortable drinking from a bottle again, we can transition back to breastfeeding -- because heaven knows I'm about ready to throw this pump out the window! The doctors have mentioned possibly bringing her home with the feeding tube still in if we need to -- but we will see how the next few days go, and keep our fingers crossed that it is the motivation she needs to start eating on her own again.
they have toys here too!
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