Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Hunter has had a busy day today. He started his day with a blood transfusion. Yes, that’s another one. He needed platelets.
He decided he didn’t want the vent anymore. He pulled it out…Yes, that’s the second time. When I got here this morning, the hospital curtain was closed. They were working on putting it back in. The doctor told Hunter that if he had waited for a week or two, he could’ve been converted to the CPAP. He is just not quite ready for that yet. The CPAP puts a lot of forced air into the stomach. Hunter is still trying to tolerate his feeds. This could have an effect on his feeds.
They have increased his feeds from 12 cc’s to 15 cc’s. They will be increasing his feeds to 18 cc’s tonight. He is almost to his goal of 21 cc’s. They will be removing him from the TPN (IV Nutrition) tonight. Let’s cross our fingers and pray!
They have winged the respirator a little more today. He is still breathing fast because of the infection.
They did a spinal tap on Hunter today. It is standard procedure after he had cultures come back for positive infection. They want to make sure the infection has not spread into the spinal fluid. Unfortunately, they were unable to get any spinal fluid from him. The doctor tried a couple times. She really does not think that there is a concern and is not going to repeat.
Hunter had his first eye appointment today. Retinopathy of Prematurity can have a big effect on his sight. The pediatric ophthalmologist said his eyes look better than a lot of 24 weekers. She is going to keep a close “eye” on him. His next appointment is next Wednesday.
We are praying for Hunter’s infection to go away and his breathing to normalize. He has been such a trooper today. God Bless Him!