Troublesome tube

Poor Audra's G-tube just won't heal.  She has been struggling with a nasty infection/abscess at her G-tube site for almost two months now.  We know that Audra's immunodeficiency makes her more prone to infections, and can make it more challenging for her to clear them.  But it could be that the Rituximab is contributing to this little problem.  With two doses of Rituximab on board now her B-cells have been destroyed {which was necessary to remove the antibodies that are causing her autoimmune encephalitis}.  So maybe she is up against two beasts in battling this infection.

She has finished two different courses of antibiotics and had a visit with the surgeon who changed her tube to a different style and it's still no better.

This past Monday she had her annual check up at the pediatrician.  She started her on a third antibiotic and cultured the drainage from the wound.  The results came back today...and it's an organism that would not have been treated by any of the three different antibiotics she has been on so far.  So we now have instructions to try a 4th antibiotic and she will see the surgeon again tomorrow morning. 

Fingers crossed for some answers to fixing up her pesky little g-tube.

{Here she is playing with some of her favorite birthday presents...

especially the shoelace puzzle!}