A Frustrating Day

Today was a bit frustrating. It's hard to spend time at the hospital without seeing any improvement from previous visits....it's even harder to see setbacks. Though Andrew was mostly stable today, they took the hi-fi vent back up to 35, which is almost as high as when he started. They were concerned about his CO2 saturations, which have been a bit high. They also turned the oxygen percentage in his vent up to 43% (up from 36%), though by the time we left it was back at 39. The main frustration is because we (and they) can't really give a specific reason for the CO2 issue....they have lots of possible theories, but I tend to be a fact-over-theory kind of guy, and both D and I find it difficult to be patient. They've put him on a course of steroids, which I think they wanted to avoid (to prevent future complications), but they should definitely help.

No need to call, email, or be concerned. It's just one day in a long series, and we all deserve to be Debbie Downer at some point. Days like this remind us how nice it is when he's doing well, and make us appreciate the doctors and nurses that have the patience to continue his care through any speed bumps.

On a positive note, his feedings are going better. As of last night, they had given up for a while, because he ended up with EVERYTHING he had eaten (and more) back in his stomach. They tried again while we were there today, but with a different strategy. Instead of giving him 5 cc's, they gave him 10, thinking that perhaps stretching his stomach out a bit would stimulate his digestive system. When they went back in (with a suction) to check for "residuals," it was less than 1 cc. They then gave him 10 more, which he also dealt with well. At 8pm he took another 10 and only gave back 2 in residual. Assuming he continues to do well, they'll repeat the pattern throughout the night.