Delays Continue

Well, here we are Sunday evening and Maddy is still in the hospital. We thought she was going to get out on Saturday, but then her cultures started to come back positive for two different types of staph infections. While these are fairly mild forms of staph and they are not making Maddy physically ill right now, the bacteria seems to have colonized in her catheter lines. Their hope was that the antibioctics would clear it up, but the more days of positive cultures, the chances are getting more slim. Today, they tried a procedure using an alcohol based substance in her lines in hopes that this would cut through the film that has formed in her lines. Unfortunately, we won't know if this has worked for 48-72 hours (the time it takes to watch for growth in the cultures). To complicate all of this is the fact that Maddy is due for a chemo treatment, so each day that passes, puts her that much farther behind. In the end, if the alcohol and the antibiotics don't clear out the bacteria, she will have to have her catheter removed. The doctors will then have to decide whether or not to replace the catheter right away or put in a temporary line until the bacteria is completely gone so she can get her chemo. (This particular bacteria likes to cling to catheters, so they don't want to put a new catheter in until they are sure the bacteria is gone.) We are hoping we will get a few more answers tomorrow as to what the oncologist are thinking. Maddy is also scheduled for an ecocardiogram to check her heart where the central line is located to make sure there are no infected clots. This may also help to determine what needs to be done. As you can imagine, Maddy is going stir crazy. She is leaving notes for the nurses and doctors- "I want OUT now!" and "I still want out!"...

Fortunately, she had some visitors over the weekend. Her aunt and cousins visited since they were home for grandma's funeral. Maddy also had a GREAT time with Miss Heckel and Mrs. Buehrer who "babysat" while Russ and I were at the visitation. Tomorrow, she gets to spend time with our neighbor Lilli while we are at the funeral. A BIG thanks to everyone for helping us out! Words can not express how grateful we are!