Clinic or "Oh, my goodness, Blaise!"

We hit clinic today. It was a scheduled visit, which was nice. Blaise took a very long nap, so we were late, which was not great. Late for the doctor means going to the end of the line. We vroomed Blaise's toy car up and down the exam table many times. She was very patient. We saw our favorite NPs, our favorite GI doc and our favorite social worker. Then we went to see the vampires in outpatient blood draw (bad scene; Blaise cried so hard she made herself throw up). Finally, we went upstairs to see our 10East nurses. Between the swine flu panic and Blaise being generally healthy, we hadn't seen them in months. Almost all of our old regular nurses were on duty, which was fun. Lots of fussing over how big she is and how grown up she seems.

Her weight is up to 17 lbs. 10 oz (8.0 kg) and she is 28 1/2 inches long. So still a beanpole, but a bigger beanpole and sticking to her growth curve, which is all we ask. We made the decision to switch her formula from Elecare to Pediasure. Pediasure has higher caloric density (30 kcal/oz), but is more widely available and isn't elemental. Blaise is going to have to start dealing with those complex proteins on her own. It's also milk-derived, so closer to real food. We've been cleared to begin introducing regular cow's milk as well.

And then there's the really big change. Remember the g-tube? "Learn to love the g-tube?" "Enteral feeds encourage intestinal adaptation, so we'll be using the g-tube for a long time." "The g-tube is no big deal." We may be saying goodbye. We're going to try discontinuing her overnight tube feeds. This is the last step in getting rid of the tube. If she goes 3 months without tube feeds and is gaining weight appropriately, they'll remove her button.

I'll believe it when I see it. And even then I might not believe it.