Tonight, I am going to attempt to put together some secondhand notes about Reid... they are all coming from Kristen and I have to admit that she is quickly starting to know more about Reid's conditions than I do. Everyone commends me on how much I remember and how much I try to digest what the doctors tell us, but Kristen sure pulls her own now. :)
Kristen had her friend Teri in town this weekend from Dallas, so while they went out shopping yesterday, I took a trip to the NICU to have some father-son bonding time. I spent about 2 hours there, changed a dirty diaper and had a pretty non-eventful visit. Since Kristen didn't see him yesterday, she was chompin' at the bit this morning when I got up at 4:30am to go see him. She did wait, but she was there right at 8 when they opened back up after the shift change. She had a fairly stressful visit as his respirations were high, oxygen requirements were high (60%) and his temperature was low (96.8). Fearing another infection, the nurses did a CRP test to see if there was anything that was not normal. After a painful hour long wait, the results came back... and there was nothing out of the ordinary. Appears he was just cold and they wrapped him back up and put him under the heat lamps. After he warmed up, things started getting better and he returned to his normal self.
She went back to the hospital around 5pm and had a much better visit. He bottle fed, and overall, was just a happy baby... full of smiles. Dr. Benedict came while she was there to do the eye exam (which we have all been stressing about) and when it was all said and done ----- no new changes. In fact, when Kristen asked if laser surgery was in the very near future, he answered "NO". This would be a huge break for us if the bad vein growth can come to a halt!!!
On a different surgery topic, Reid still continues to have difficult hernias to reduce. In fact, it seems more and more common to hear the nurses describe the difficulties of reducing the hernia, only to have to call the doctor to do it themselves. Knowing that they like to wait until kids are at least 10 lbs before they operate, Kristen and I have a huge fear of having Reid home and having to reduce the hernias ourselves. If the nurses have a hard time doing it, what makes you think that we can do it!?!?!? Kristen asked the nurse today about this, and she thought that hernia surgery may be in the near future (and we believe that the doctors have alluded to the fact as well). While I am hesitant to say that I would be happy that he would have surgery now, I am also secretly hoping that we won't have to face this issue after he comes home. This will just be one more thing that we have to worry about. So, long story short, while nervous about the surgery, I think it would be best if he did have it before his homecoming. Our biggest fear right now would be the transport to Scottish Rite hospital in Atlanta (http://www.choa.org/default.aspx?ID=841) and the possibility of him needing to go back on ventilator assistance during the surgery.
Hmmm... what else? His weight last night was at 5 lbs 6 oz. He hasn't been gaining all too much weight lately, but he did have some sizable gains the previous week. I guess they all even out over time.
His oxygen requirements still seem to be on the downward trend. While he did have some high numbers today, he was also at a point where he only required 35%. We like to think that these low numbers are contributing to his good eye tests. Keep up the good work Reid!!!
Well, I am going to sign off. Two people from my team are at the same hotel as me tonight, so we are going to try and venture into Old Town Alexandria tonight. The rain is coming down, but we are going to hop in the hotel shuttle and try to enjoy. will probably be a short evening as I have a 10:30 conference call tonight. Ugh. Anyway, thanks again for the prayers and keep them coming Reid's way! Good night.
No comments:
Post a Comment