Fever and Swallow Study

Last night Alyson started to get a fever and it got to 102.5F at one time. Not usually a huge deal in kids but right after surgery it is a big deal! I was starting to think the worse of things.....that she has an infection now. She was given Tylenol and her fever came down and she had another fever again this morning. Her surgeon came in her room this morning and could tell she had one just by looking at her eyes. She had the External Jugular IV removed today since it is so close to her heart and a new one was put into her foot. Because of the fever she had blood drawn to see if she really does have an infection and so far nothing is showing that she does. Her fever could be because of a cold or virus she got. They also started her on antibiotics for at least 48 hours just as a precaution. So needless to say, her date in coming home has been pushed back a little bit but I am glad that this happened here at the hospital and not at home.

Alyson also had a swallow study today. She is put in front of an X-ray machine and she had to drink barium to see if she was aspirating any of the liquid to rule out that being the reason she wasn't eating. Well, she passed but she was not happy at all being made to drink the barium that was 'blue raspberry' flavored. While Alyson didn't like it, I thought it was pretty interesting to watch the X-ray to see where the food went. The speech therapist is now on the track that she might have stomach issues like reflux and a new medication may need to be started so Alyson may want to eat more. This hasn't been discussed with her Dr. yet I'm sure but we'll see what happens over the next few days with this.

Alyson loves all the built in toys she has right now. I looked over at her this afternoon and she was playing with the new IV that was dangling from her foot. She also likes to play with her oxygen/feeding tubes and the monitoring wires on her chest. She's funny!!!

Alyson strapped in and ready to go for her swallow study!