A ban-aid! 3/13/10

Kensley with her Central Line

Kensley without her Central Line

Yes! A ban-aid! That is all the dressing we have. Kensley's central line is OUT! This is BIG! This is HUGE! We had this line removed yesterday, March 12th. It has been in since March 3rd, 2009, over a year. It has really grown in and there was tissue surrounding the cuff that goes into the body, but now IT IS GONE, and only a little ban-aid covers the place where it was. WOW! Kensley went 6 weeks without any fluids and she did great, so out the line came. Now we will skip labs for this coming Monday (3-15th) and have them next Monday (3-22nd). That will tell us a lot. It is just amazing to be down by one tube. Before, we had the central line which was in her chest going into a vein so that she could get fluid hydration, and the feeding tube (G-tube) which provides her with formula that goes directly into her stomach. So, now we will work on the G-tube feeds and hopefully someday that will go away too. It may be years, but we will keep holding on. Kensley has been doing really well, but she is going through a period of not wanting to eat or drink as much, just not hungry or thirsty. So her weight gain was down last week . She still eats a great breakfast of eggs and bacon, but the other meals are hit or miss. She just isn't as hungry after being on the feeding tube all day. We will keep working on increasing oral feeds and decrease the tube feeds until one day we are off the tube entirely. Kensley will be 2years next month, so there is still time before we would go to kindergarten. Preschool may not be an option, but we can hope. It would be nice for Kensley to have someone her own age to play with. There will be more updates and pictures on LubbockGrapevine.com. Become a member and keep up with the Free family there.