Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Pulmonary Hypertension with respiratory failure is what they're calling it.

Respiratory failure is exactly what it sounds like. It is when your respiratory system fails to work.

It can be reversible. And, that is the ray of hope I grab on too. It can also not be.

He has made little improvements today, which gives me an additional ray or two. He was on a machine that delivers nitrous oxide to him. Nitrous oxide opens up his airways and allows the blood to move more freely through his lungs. When he first arrived to the PICU, they had the machine set at a level of 10. They tried to wean him to 5 yesterday. That did not work. Today, he is down to 1 and still weaning....

They haven't been able to wean him from the vent today. When he arrived in the PICU, he had the highest vent settings and the oscillator was the next step. He is down to modest settings, which occurred yesterday. He has remained there. Since they are weaning the nitrous oxide, they don’t want to touch the vent settings. Hunter doesn’t like a lot of changes all at one time. Patience can be the key.

They did a spinal tap on him today. The preliminary results are negative for meningitis. It is something they had to rule out. Viral infection has been negative. Bacterial infection has been negative. They are not sure what sent him in this downward spiral.

It's official. Hunter was not having seizures. They're not sure what caused his seizure like activity. The results are negative and his cat scan shows a normal brain with nothing remarkable to report. They will be following up with a MRI. This will come later.

Before Hunter went into the hospital, we thought he was having trouble with reflux. This is very common for a micro preemie. Before Hunter leaves, they will be doing a sleep study on him to figure out the severity of his reflux. They need to be able to treat it accordingly. Reflux can lead to pneumonia in these little guys.

I think I covered all my bases on Hunter for the time being. I am tuckered out. My b-day is at the end of the month. Let's pray he is out by then...All I want to do is spend my b-day cuddling him.