Drew's surgeon stopped us in the hallway at Children's this morning when we were on our way to see the big guy. He said that from a respiratory standpoint, he's happy with where Drew is. His respiration rate has been increased back up to 55 but he's doing a lot of that breathing on his own. The machine uses different colors for the breaths he actually takes and the ones the vent takes for him, that's how we can tell that he's doing some on his own. It's not necessarily always a good thing for him to be doing that but since his carbon dioxide levels have been really good, it's ok for now. That's the good news (he still has so far to go but, for now, he's ok on his vent).
From a metabolic standpoint, things are a bit off. His electrolytes have been off--sodium, potassium, etc. They did so much to pull off fluid before surgery and his chest tubes were/are pulling off a ton of fluid now that things got out of whack. So they upped his fluids so he's swelling up again. It's just a matter of finding the right balance and they seemed pretty close to finding it this afternoon. He had to have some blood last night but it's not a regular thing anymore.
Elizabeth told us a couple of days ago that, "Baby Drew's belly button's dirty. Clean it now." :-) It's the umbilical cord stump that she thinks is dirt.
I'm waiting to go up there for our nightly visit because we have some bad weather coming in at any time now so I don't know the absolute latest. In the meantime, here are some pictures from yesterday:
Saturday, April 01, 2006
The latest
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3 comments:
Oh Jana, he is so beautiful! I can't believe how much he looks like Ellie, really shows in that first pic!! I absolutely love the pictures of Buggie at his bedside, how precious. We keep praying for Drew and your family everyday and daily I am checking your blog for new updates. Drew is such a little fighter and such a strong little boy. I know he gets a lot of that from you and Raymond. Keep up the good work Drew, we're all pulling for you sweetie!
Shawna, Joe, Bryce, Ty, & Joey
Oh these pictures brought tears to our eyes. My older children (who are all in their teens) were not allowed to see my son, the entire time of our NICU stay because it was in the middle of RSV season.
Its so good to see these pictures.
I think he looks fantastic.
Not too swollen at all.
We too struggled with the electrolite balance. I never really understood how important Potassium was, until the NICU.
We wish you well and are praying for your sons speedy improvement.
Hi Jana. My name is Kimberly. My husband and I have a son with CDH also. We are at Texas Childrens. He was born on March 5th put on ECMO march 6th, hernia repaired the 29th, taken off ECMO April 1st. I found your website through another CDH mom. We actually live in the Dallas area and are just here for Jackson. It is so good to read other's storys. We also have a blog, it is www.babyjdb.blogspot.com. Both of your children are beautiful. Praying for you and whishing you a speedy recovery.
Kimberly
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