Firstly, don't worry, it's nothing serious. Secondly, I must say that I love technology.
Gwendolyn's g-tube site has always been very healthy, pink and normal looking. Well, this week it started looking red, then got a bit redder, and then yesterday it started to ooze. Gross, I know. Back in April when Gwendolyn had her surgery for the g-tube, Bill and I were scared straight by the surgery team with a book of photos of g-tube sites that were not so healthy. In fact, they were the most disgusting photos ever and we have been religious about monitoring Gwendolyn's site for any signs of yuck. Gwendolyn's tummy, fortunately, looked nothing like those photos, but we could tell it wasn't quite right, especially as it seemed tender to her. But, neither of us was overly concerned. She has grown so much that our first thought was that she has outgrown the length of her current Mickey button size and so it has become too tight and, therefore, is rubbing and causing redness. This still may be part of the issue and Bill will change the current Mickey button to a longer button next week when we receive them from the medical supply company. (I can not do this. It isn't painful, but seeing a hole in my baby's abdomen and then sticking something in it makes me queasy just thinking about it. I can do a lot of things, but this just gets to me.) So, I emailed the surgery nurse, Karen, at Stanford who we have seen several times and who is very knowledgeable. My main question was what size do we go up to now. She called me back within 2 minutes and provided a wealth of ideas of how to immediately relieve discomfort. Then, and this is genius, she suggested I take a photo of the site and email it to her. At this point, I still wasn't thinking it was infected and since we had an appointment with our pediatrician, Dr. Abbott, already planned for next week, I assumed it could wait. Well, after getting the emailed picture, Karen called me back in 30 seconds and broke the news that, indeed, the site is infected. Boo! But, isn't technology wonderful. She then called in a prescription immediately, thus allowing us to start the antibiotic this morning. Karen then emailed me again at 7:30 that night just to check in. Awesome!
I called Dr. Abbott today to make sure he was on board with this plan of action, which he is, but he thought we should bump up our appointment to today so he could have a look at the site in person. So, Gwendolyn also got her scheduled RSV shot. Double Boo for Gwendolyn! Dr. Abbott agreed that Gwendolyn has a cellulitis infection. It isn't contagious or overly worrisome, but it does require antibiotics. It can lead to a fever and other stuff and so we are watching to make sure the antibiotic works.
So, Gwendolyn now weighs 19.5 pounds! Hooray! Our little girl is gaining weight nice and steadily. We didn't measure her length this time, but she is long! She now has had her second RSV shot and will get another one next month. We are hoping to avoid RSV and any other sickness this season.