2:30pm: Dr. Piazza, in his attempt to be more involved with Kristen and myself, gave me a call to touch base with where Reid stands:

1. Eyes: Good news is that he is at the same Stage and Zone as last week (and possibly slightly better if you look at the past several eye exams). The bad news is that we are not out of the woods yet, and will have another exam next week. He did mention that we are getting close to the cusp of being out of the danger zone though (in relation to his age and when it is no longer a concern).

2. Cultures: He came back positive (again) for Enterobacter even though he finished up his last dose of the current antibiotic the other day. After talking to Infectious Diseases, they had determined that the current antibiotic wasn't doing the job that it used to. This suggests that the bacteria may have slightly morphed and they are now giving another 10-day course of a new drug - gentamicin. Good that they found something, bad in the sense that he has to have his IVs (in addition to his central line) for another 10 days --- and we know how this kid goes through his IVs...

3. Pulmonary Hypertension: After reviewing his ECHOs over the past few weeks, Dr. Piazza is quite pleased as to the direction Reid has gone down. He suggests that the PPHN is no longer a factor in his poor oxygenation. He was previously thinking the other day that it may still play a role in his sickness and that is why he had gone up on the sildenafil once again. However, he is now second guessing himself and thinking that the sildenafil actually might have an adverse effect on the oxygenation. I don't think I understand the entire reason why, but it has something to do with the fact that the lungs have too much blood in them, and with Chronic Lung Disease, he is not capable of oxygenating all that blood at once. He is "scratching his head" and wondering if he should cut back on the dose of sildenafil.

12:15pm: So, the nurse lied to us and got her numbers mixed up when she told Kristen his O2 numbers this morning. He was in the 60s and 70s over the night (not 40s and 50s). How frustrating is that?!? He is currently at 65.

Eye test was this morning and we are good for one more week. Another test next Thursday.

9:15am: I don't have a lot of time to post, so I will keep this one short and sweet. His O2 fluctuated throughout the night ranging anywhere from the upper-50s and into the 40s. The nurse was up in the front of the NICU when Kristen called this morning, so she wasn't aware of the current number, but thought it was in the lower 50s. So, over night, he was able to gain at least 10 percentage points!