Grand Rounds at HSC, Nurses Week

During a visit back to the NICU after Madelyn's newborn follow-up appointment, I ran into Doris Sawatsky-Dickson, the nurse clinician for the NICU. She was organizing a Grand Rounds for the nurses during nursing week on May 14th. The focus was Congential Diaphragmatic Hernia and how nurses are invovled from fetal assessment to discharge and follow-up. I agreed to bring Madelyn as a model baby.

Back at NICU, John, is the award winning, Respiratory Therapist Specialist. He was part of the transfer team for Madelyn. He remembered Madelyn and confirmed the fact that she was the first transfer on the Jet ventilator. They have done a few more since then.

Marie Hadfield, Nurse Stonogropher. She was from fetal assessment. She did all of my ultrasounds and gave be great information and so much support. She was the first presenter of the meeting. I just love her she is so great!

The whole hour was based on Madelyn's case. Here was a summary of her tests. I new there had been many, but not that many. If you look closely you can see that she had 53 blood gases. I found it interesting, yet it brought back many of those uncertain feelings about the survival of your baby.

I am glad that Madelyn's case can be used for more education and hopefully help with the care of future CDH cases at HSC. It was also nice to see all the nursing staff that we got to know and to get back to see them, and I was allowed to formally thank them for all the help, support and encouragment they were to Madelyn and us as parents. Madelyn was a little restless during the talk, and then feel asleep when it was my turn to talk, but she awoke just as I was done and so I brought her up to give a little wave. She was great, and loved all the attention she was getting.

Newborn Follow-Up Appointment

The New Born Follow-Up program looks at all the babies that had a lengthy stay at the NICU and/or IMCN. Madelyn having been there for 35 days falls into this catagory. Her appointment was on Wednesday morning at 11. Carl contemplated not coming to this appointment since we didn't think it would really be a big deal. But since he has come to all the other appointments I think he was having some "Daddy Guilt" and decided that he might as well go. I was really glad he did. The appointment was long and very involved.

The appointment is well organized and they realize how babies like to work. Only one person is in the room at a time, the others involved in the exam observe from a one way mirror. Madelyn did very well with all her fine motor skills. I let them know from the begining that she still is not sitting on her own. No one else seemed to care in the last week, (public health nurse and Dr. Carson.) But to them it did, and I was so greatful. Madelyn was starting to want to sit at six months, she is now 7.5 months and she is just not progressing further. The physiotherapist showed me a few excersizes I can do with her to help strengthen her core/abdomenal muscles. And then she will referred to the physiotherapist at BTHC to follow up.

Everything was assessed in this appointment from, basic hearing and vision, fine and gross motor skills, plus I got to ask all my silly little questions that I have stuck in the back of my mind. Madelyn will be seen again in a year, or sooner if I have any concerns. I left feeling well taken care of.

Carl and I felt like reminising on old times so we went to the cafeteria for lunch. We had many a lunch, supper, and late night coffee there. Now we get to do it with Madelyn.

After lunch Carl and I stopped by NICU for a happy visit. We met Dr. Wiseman in the hall with his resident physician. He is just an amazing man. Doris the nurse clinician that ran the parent support meetings was there and super excited to see Madelyn doing so well. I chatted with a few nurses that cared for Madelyn while she was in NICU.

On a another note, Doris the nurse clinician, also organizes the grand rounds for the nurses. On May 14th they are focusing on diaphragmatic hernias, and how nurses play a roll. I almost jumped at the chance to showcase Madelyn. We had excellent nurses from fetal assessment until the day Madelyn was discharged.

Since I had never heard of CDH until the day of my ultra sound on April 28/08, I have found a passion about telling people Madelyn's story to spread more awareness for this birth defect. This is a great opportunity for me to follow through on that passion.