We had a visit with Connor today and were supposed to have a family meeting after but it was postponed to see how he does in the next couple days.
Connor was given dexamethasone four hours before extubation to reduce the inflammation around the tube. This will be given twice more after extubation to reduce swelling in the trachea. We think he has a better chance on CPAP this time because he is bigger now and his lungs are stronger than they were and he has much less lung secretions than he had before. It has already been 2.5 weeks since the last time he was on CPAP for a day and then had to be reintubated.
We watched while he was extubated, set up on CPAP and monitored closely after. He seemed to do really well and was still doing well after being weaned down to 37% oxygen.
He last weigh-in was 1448 grams and is up to 19ml feeds every two hours. He also had an eye exam yesterday but nothing was seen because his eyesare still too cloudy and immature. Eye exams will be repeated weekly.
His bloodwork showed low hemoglobin earlier in the week and he was a bit paler today but his breathing has been decent so they are repeating bloodwork tonight to see if he needs another (7th) blood transfusion to boost his hemoglobin.
Connor was loaded with presents from NICU nurses, former NICU families and volunteers. He got a onesie, a book, a tree ornament, and quite a few handknit hats. One former NICU family even cooks a Christmas feast and brings it on Christmas Eve to share with parents in the family lounge so that spending the holidays in the intensive care unit sucks just a little bit less.
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