Day Eleven Post-Norwood - Monday, December 15, 2008

"Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise."
Psalm 47: 6,7

I am just FLYING today! Things are progressing so well that we may be headed for the much-anticipated fourth floor by as early as tomorrow!
This morning when I came in to see Tyson he was back in the headbox. The CPAP was really annoying him and he had quite a fussy night. He couldn't settle down into a deep sleep so they took him off CPAP and put him back in the headbox. He is doing well there and there doesn't seem to be any reason why he should need to go back on CPAP.

When I came in after my "lunch break" he had been taken out of the head box and he is doing just fine on his own. The doctors are very pleased with his respiratory progress considering where he was on Saturday.

His central line (in the neck) has been removed and they hope to remove his arterial line soon too. When he moves up to the fourth floor, the only lines he will have is his PICC line and his NG tube. YAY! He is really starting to look "normal" again!
I had a look at the x-rays of his lungs that they took early this morning and guess what?!?! The fluids are disappearing and his left lung is back to normal again! So excited for this step in his recovery. Looking forward to moving up to the fourth floor soon!
Also, once the fluids are totally gone and stay gone for a while, there is no reason why he should need to continue on the portagin so I will definitely be talking to the head Dr. again about putting him back on breastmilk. He is too skinny and they need to fatten him up some more.
They've also finally increased his feed again....for a baby who was being breastfed prior to surgery and getting the exact amounts he wanted, to going with small amounts of portagin, he was quite hungry. I kept telling the nurses that they need to increase his intake because he kept chomping down on his soother...but I guess they can't increase it too quickly especially with fluid in the lungs, for fear that he might asperate. So they are increasing the quantities a little quicker now, and soon should be back up to the minimal requirement of 2 oz. Personally I think he needs even more than that (based on what my other babies ate at this age) but we have to wait and see how his tummy tolerates that first. This afternoon he was given 45 mls (an ounce and a half) and he had that digested within no time!

I am so happy with his progress and can't wait for my kids to be able to see him! Once he is on the fourth floor, and in his own room, they can visit him anytime they want! Hoping for a really nice weekend with them if all goes well.

Thanks so much for everyone's prayers and support. They mean so much to all of us!

Till tomorrow,

Mel:)