Ruby Hope McKee Starling

We had our last check-up with Ruby's surgeon yesterday.  She said she looks really good.  Her incision is still rehealing.  She has developed granuloma, which from what I understand is a bubble of scar tissue.  The doctor "burned" it off just like you would with a wort.  She also said that we will start weaning Ruby off of some of her meds.  Basically they won't weight adjust them anymore and she will eventually out grow them.  Unless of course she needs them.  She's taking Diarel, KCL, Prilosec, and vitamins.  The Diarel and KCl are to help keep her lungs dry.  If she starts loosing ground on the PO feeds and breathing harder consistently we will know she needs more of both.  Prilosec is for the acid reflux.  I think the Prilosec needs to be weight adjusted.  The past couple days she has been spitting up more.  We have an appointment with her Pediatrician on Friday to discuss these things. 

It was very hard to say goodbye to everyone at CHOP yesterday.  All of the Doctors, Nurses, Respiratory Therapists, Clerks, and Environmental Services Workers all played a major roll in Ruby's success.   The OB's, MFM's, and midwives of the SDU deserve our thanks also. Words can't express just how thankful we are.  With out them we wouldn't be bringing Ruby home.  Her surgeon gave us hugs and told us to call her anytime we had concerns.  She said "Ruby is a very special little girl."  She even called our pediatrician in Austin just to tell him "How special Ruby is." 

After we made the rounds at CHOP we took Ruby for a walk on Penn's campus.  There is a Turtle pond that Chris and I would visit sometimes to get out of the hospital.  Each time we went we talk about how nice it would be when  we got to bring Ruby to see the turtles.  Even on days when Ruby wasn't doing so good and it was hard to have hope, we talked about bringing her to see the Turtles.  We would even tell her about all the turtles.  Finally yesterday we got to show Ruby the turtles.  She slept through most of the visit.  It made Chris and I very happy to be share the place with her even if she didn't realize she was there.

We also got her picture next one very famous American.

We fly back to Austin tomorrow afternoon.  It's hard to believe we're actually taking our little girl home.  Five months ago Chris and I left home with the  intention to do everything we could to save our daughter's life.  We were scared and nervous about our decision to leave home in search of the best medical care in the world.  We didn't want to have any regrets.  Thanks to our friends at CHOP, we don't have any.

Stay tuned for Ruby's Texas debut!