Slow Progress

My financial planner (who also happens to be my father-in-law) is fond of a quote by Warren Buffet that goes something like this "good investing is boredom bordering on sloth and lethargy." I think one could use this quote to describe the best NICU experiences. In short, things are trending in the right direction, just slowly. Here are the details from rounds this morning:

1) Madeleine had a poor blood gas this morning which prompted the nurses to put her back on vapotherm at 3 liters. This seemed to help as a blood gas taken at noon was much improved. At this point, she'll stay at the 3 liters for at least a few days.

2) Despite her blood gas improving, she's still breathing a bit faster than the doctors want and they decided to give her some blood. They've debated doing this for days as it can help her with replacing blood taken for gasses and can also help out with oxygenation in the body. The downside is that they don't like to introduce foreign substances in any body unless necessary. Additionally, their is some concern about adding fluids with Madeleien's heart condition. To counteract the fluid problem, they are going to administer a diaretic immediately after the transfusion and they believe that this should help slow her breathing.

3) The intestines appear to be improving and they have a plan to ensure that they drain appropriately. I spoke with a surgeon and they are going to insert a straw (can't remember the fancy medical term) into the stoma (end of her intestine) that should help the intestines empty. If you remember, after the procedure two days ago, she had a large amount of output from the stoma but that has stopped and the X-Ray indicates that much of the fluid inserted into her intestines remains inside. By inserting the straw, they feel that this will allow the intestines to drain and should ensure that blockages don't occur in the future.

4) Given all of these ongoing issues, the plan is to see how she reacts this afternoon and most likely hold off feeding until tomorrow morning. There is a chance that the gut will empty quickly and they may decide to start tonight. However, echoing the sentiment at the beginning of this post, they don't want to go too fast...

Have a good one--

Brent

PS-- I gave blood this morning. Have you scheduled your appointment? The number for Children's blood donor site is 202-476-5437. They're open at 7AM so you can go before work. If you don't live in DC, check out your local hospital's website.