Destiny Lynn Magyar
Medically, Destiny was doing the best of the triplets. She ate sooner and handled her feedings better that Laci and Kylie. She was moved from the most critical part of the NICU to the less critical area first. On Wednesday, July 9th, we went to the N.I.C.U. to visit, as we usually did each night. We noticed that Destiny didn't seem to be herself...she wasn't moving around and she didn't really look at us too much. Later that night, we got a phone call from the doctor in the N.I.C.U. She told us that Destiny was really sick, that her stomach had swelled up like a balloon. They stopped her feedings immediately and started antibiotics. The next day they told us that Destiny had been diagnosed with Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC), a disease more common with premature infants and often but not always fatal. They treated her with antibiotics and after about a week, they thought she was getting better. The swelling in her belly went down and she was more active. We were relieved. On July 12th, they called us at home, and again told us thet Destiny was real sick. The actual disease that she had contracted was gone, but they felt that it left some damage behind. On July 16th, she was transferred to the best children's hospital where they ran a test called a Barium Enema, where they shoot dye into the rectum to see where it would go in the belly. Alot of things weren't clear to us then, I guess we were just overwhelmed with everything. Destiny had her first operation on July 25th and the outcome looked positive.....at that time.
Since then Destiny has had multiple surgeries, from removal of the intestine to the placement of a Broviac Catheter, where they could run her fluids and medications without having to poke her all the time with needles. A Broviac Catheter is a central IV line that is surgically placed through the shoulder down and out of the chest area. The line can sometimes become infected(for multiple reasons) and can cause the patient to become ill, sometimes can often be deadly. Destiny has gone through 4 lines now, either because they have become blocked(clogged) or because of infection. 2 out of 4 lines was due to infection which led to an accute illness where they couldn't be certain that she would pull through. We have been put in the hardest situation that would ever have to be dealt with...should we take her off of the life support, so she won't have to suffer anymore, or should we just let nature take it's course? We almost took her off of it both times....but the doctors and nurses were skeptical and believed she was strong enough to fight it. So we left it in God's hands and she is still with us today. We will update with the final outcome later...as for now, Destiny still remains in Children's Hospital.
July 6, 2004Destiny was transferred to Transitional Infant Care today. They say 1 more month and she can come home....
August 2, 2004SHE'S HOME!!!!! Finally!!! I am so excited I can't say much more...I'll update later!!
June 12, 20041 year old!! We had a small party at home for Laci and Kylie and then went to see Destiny. They told us she might be able to come home for a couple of hours today but she didn't...I guess it's all a liability thing? Anyway, the Nurses had a little party for Destiny and bought her gifts...she is so spoiled in there!
May 24, 2004 - It's been a long time since I updated, sorry about that....Since the last update, Destiny has grown into a beautiful, happy, painless baby. She has improved 100%. She is still on T.P.N. but she is also getting 20 CC's of formula every hour (30 cc's is 1 oz.). This is the highest she has ever made it. Occupational therapy tried bottle feeding her...It didn't work too well. She will probably never bottle feed. She is blind in her right eye and will require glasses when she comes home. She still has the G-Tube and a Broviac Catheter. We are so glad she made it....she should be coming home soon!
January 11, 2004 - We got a call today from the doctor. "Destiny is real sick." We went to see her and she looked pale, she really didn't do much, you could tell she was sick. It seemed she may have contracted a bacteria in her central line. They also thought she may have a viral infection in her lungs. She is very weezy and she has a rough cough. She was on the ventilator so long that her lungs are very weak. They say she may not pull through....
January 12, 2004 - Doctor called this morning. Destiny took a turn for the worse....They want to put her back on the ventilator...We gave consent. 4:00 P.M. Doctor called....Destiny is real sick...Her CO2 level was 112. Normal CO2 levels run between 20 - 30 I think they said. "I think you guys should come down to the hospital. She's not gonna pull through".........We got Aaleigha, Laci, and Kylie ready and dropped them at the babysitter's......We got to the hospital around 5:30 P.M. They had the curtain drawn around her and I could swear we didn't get there soon enough. She's sleeping. Doctor told us to take our time with her and let her know when we were finished (sounds so morbid...who at 28 years old would ever have to make this decision......why us??) We both held Destiny, we cried...She's so beautiful......Called the doctor back in...We went with doc to a private room and she explained what was going to happen. "We will sedate her so she is comfortable, in no pain, and then we will extubate her (take the life support off)". We didn't want to watch them take the tube out, so we went outside, called family, made funeral arrangements. We went back up about 25 minutes later. She was still lying there, still on the machine...? We called the doctor back in..."Well, we have to talk" she says. We went back in the private room and she told us that some of the nurses didn't feel that it was time for Destiny to go. Now we feel terrible. What are we going to do?.........
Well.....it is Janury 30th... Destiny is still here. She's showing progress...She's not on the ventilator, no oxygen either. They are upping her feeds every day and she's still dumping alot (putting out more than she should be from her stoma), but she's hangin in there....She sure is a fighter.....
Email: sta212c2@aol.com
