Sunday, September 14, 2008

I am still here and never had the nervous breakdown that I still think I deserve. :-) No really, I'm okay and was nowhere near a nervous breakdown. Like I said, that would've happened 100 days ago. And, I'm not giving up this fight with Hunter. He has taught me a thing or two about true inner strength. My house is a mess, my laundry is stacked up, and for those that know me the best - you do not believe it. But, yes - everything is just out of order right now. It is awful... Although, it is driving me NUTS! It can wait.

Anyways, moving forward...OH, we are switching our lung doctor and cardiologist team over to U of M. It was a really hard decision to make. After we found out that Hunter had Pulmonary Hypertension, we wanted the lung and heart doctors to be able to work together easier. We love St. Joe's and U of M cannot replace them. Hunter is getting really good care at U of M right now and we found a cardiologist that specializes in Pulmonary Hypertension. Hunter has to be followed up in a developmental clinic because of his prematurity. This is different than his lung and heart doctors. I was pretty firm with U of M that we were going to stay at St. Joe's for the developmental clinic. One of the neonatalogist that saved Hunter's life in the beginning is head of that. I love all of the neonatalogist and would not feel comfortable removing Hunter from the developmental clinic at St. Joe's. St. Joe's still remains a family to me.

We talked to Hunter's lung doctor. We thought he was going to come home today. Then, his heart doctor came in and had a different view. We will have to stay for a couple more days, at the least. They have increased the viagra to a max dosage for Hunter. They did this a couple days ago. They want to repeat his echocardiogram on Monday. Our hopes are that the pressure on the right side of his heart has come down. If that is the case, we can come home. If not, Hunter has to stay. If they send Hunter home with high pressures in the heart, Hunter WILL have heart failure. It would be a matter of time. Although, I want my baby home, I do not want him to have heart failure. I am pretty comfortable with their decision and will stay as long as we need to get him right. If Hunter's pressures have not come down, he will need a cardio catherization down. It sounds like it is a pretty serious procedure. They will have to put him to sleep for the procedure. They go inside and look at how intense the pressure is. They are also looking to see if it is a premature lung structural problem, or a premature blood vessel problem. If it is a premature blood vessel problem, they can add another medication to the viagra to help him. If it is a premature lung structure problem, the treatment is a little more intense. The doctor wasn't going to go there with me yesterday on that. It is one day at a time. We have to get through the echo on Monday...

We bought Hunter his third mobile for this hospital stay. His first mobile, (Dalmatians), stay in his "fire truck" nursery. The second looney toon one - I can't find. Now, he has an adorable rainforest one on his crib. He loves it. I even named all the little animals on it. The gangs all there with him: George (the "curious" money), Kermit (the frog), Sam (the toucan), and Benson (the bubble bee). Maybe, I'm losing my mind ... a little. Hahaha. Insanity can be fun!

So, please pray that Hunter's echo looks good on Monday, the increased dosage of viagra is working, and he can come home. If not, he is there for awhile...at least they are being thorough and not kicking him out the door. Heart failure would be devastating