From Hospital to work to Hospital and back home.
The surgery went really well. His Surgeon said she feels confident about everything. She will follow up in a week with another exam before we know for sure that it was a success.
Omi didn't care for it too much. He's been pretty cranky today, which is understandable. But, he's been resting comfortably. He gets drops in his eyes every three hours, and his eyes are a bit puffy. Not much else to tell right now.
He's going to get a real crib tomorrow though. Wooooo!
Long day. Going to bed....
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
12/26-28/10
Well, looks like Omi is going to have eye surgery tomorrow.
A specialist cam and looked at him and said that his ROP is getting worse.
(if you want to know what ROP is in more detail, and let's face it, who doesn't wonder that on a weekly basis, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinopathy_of_prematurity)
If left untreated, he has a 50% chance of his retinas detaching and him going blind. He has less than 7% chance with the surgery. So, Omi goes under the laser in the morning.
He will have some loss of peripheral vision, but he won't know he's missing anything and adjust.
Omi was on the ventilator and had really high oxygen settings for a long time, so his eyes are paying the price. As I said before, we pretty much knew this was coming for a while.
The surgery itself is pretty simple, takes about a half hour, and isn't too invasive.
They give him a mild sedative to keep him from moving around, then laser down the ridges that are building up on his eyes and preventing the blood vessels from expanding. He will feel a dull ache while the laser is active, and it goes away as soon as it stops.
He'll spend a couple days in dim light to give his eyes time to recover. After that, he should be just fine. They will follow up in a week to see how well it worked.
I'll post again as soon as I can tomorrow after surgery.
Wish Omi luck!
A specialist cam and looked at him and said that his ROP is getting worse.
(if you want to know what ROP is in more detail, and let's face it, who doesn't wonder that on a weekly basis, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinopathy_of_prematurity)
If left untreated, he has a 50% chance of his retinas detaching and him going blind. He has less than 7% chance with the surgery. So, Omi goes under the laser in the morning.
He will have some loss of peripheral vision, but he won't know he's missing anything and adjust.
Omi was on the ventilator and had really high oxygen settings for a long time, so his eyes are paying the price. As I said before, we pretty much knew this was coming for a while.
The surgery itself is pretty simple, takes about a half hour, and isn't too invasive.
They give him a mild sedative to keep him from moving around, then laser down the ridges that are building up on his eyes and preventing the blood vessels from expanding. He will feel a dull ache while the laser is active, and it goes away as soon as it stops.
He'll spend a couple days in dim light to give his eyes time to recover. After that, he should be just fine. They will follow up in a week to see how well it worked.
I'll post again as soon as I can tomorrow after surgery.
Wish Omi luck!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
12/22-25/10
Merry Christmas!
Omi is doing great. He says to tell everyone to have a good holiday. It sounds more like squeaks when he says it, but we know what he means.
He's moving right along. His Nurse Practitioner called me today and said for the first time ever, she has no new orders for him. He doesn't have to work on Christmas.
He has been able to be on nasal cannula for a couple hours a day, which is great. They give him the small plastic tubes for his nose and he takes all his own breaths. It makes it much easier to hold him that way too. We can just walk over and pick him up when he's on it. Pretty cool.
Sometimes he falls asleep hard and forgets to breathe. You have to give him a little pat on his back to get him started again. It sounds weird, but it's actually kind of cute. "Aww look, he's so sleepy he quit breathing. Isn't that cute?"
(Sorry Omi, you just can't scare us anymore)
He is scheduled for eye surgery next week though. Not a huge deal. His ROP has gotten a little worse, so they want to correct it before it gets worse. We're not surprised at all given how long he was on the vent. They do it right at his bed using lasers and don't even have to put him out for it. He will just have to spend a couple days in his bed with really low light.
Afterward though, he will get a big boy crib. No more "kid in the plexiglass box". From there on, barring any unknown things that could jump up, it will pretty much be him learning how to eat on his own, growing and getting ready to come home. The next phase should be nice and boring. We like boring. Boring is good.
Anyway, we hope everyone has a great holiday, and we thank you all again for your kind words and support. It means a lot to us knowing Omi has such a big cheering section.
Santa stopped by the other day to visit the kids at the NICU. Omi told him he wants a hat that fits. We can do that.
Omi is doing great. He says to tell everyone to have a good holiday. It sounds more like squeaks when he says it, but we know what he means.
He's moving right along. His Nurse Practitioner called me today and said for the first time ever, she has no new orders for him. He doesn't have to work on Christmas.
He has been able to be on nasal cannula for a couple hours a day, which is great. They give him the small plastic tubes for his nose and he takes all his own breaths. It makes it much easier to hold him that way too. We can just walk over and pick him up when he's on it. Pretty cool.
Sometimes he falls asleep hard and forgets to breathe. You have to give him a little pat on his back to get him started again. It sounds weird, but it's actually kind of cute. "Aww look, he's so sleepy he quit breathing. Isn't that cute?"
(Sorry Omi, you just can't scare us anymore)
He is scheduled for eye surgery next week though. Not a huge deal. His ROP has gotten a little worse, so they want to correct it before it gets worse. We're not surprised at all given how long he was on the vent. They do it right at his bed using lasers and don't even have to put him out for it. He will just have to spend a couple days in his bed with really low light.
Afterward though, he will get a big boy crib. No more "kid in the plexiglass box". From there on, barring any unknown things that could jump up, it will pretty much be him learning how to eat on his own, growing and getting ready to come home. The next phase should be nice and boring. We like boring. Boring is good.
Anyway, we hope everyone has a great holiday, and we thank you all again for your kind words and support. It means a lot to us knowing Omi has such a big cheering section.
Santa stopped by the other day to visit the kids at the NICU. Omi told him he wants a hat that fits. We can do that.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
12/21/10
Okay, so Omi decided a little after 4 this morning that he no longer needs his breathing tube. Yes, he pulled it out again.
This time though, he's been so close to the criteria to go to c-pap (tubes up the nose with a steady flow of oxygen), that they decided to try him on it and see how he would do. He's been on it and doing fine all day.
I guess it took a bit of work by the staff to get him ready to change over, but they did a fine job and it worked.
All the Doctors and Nurses keep coming by to congratulate us on his big day.
It looks a little goofy, but we'll take the progress. He can now use a binky and cry, even though he sounds like a little duck when he does.
He does not really like the device (we don't blame him) but he got to have it off for a while tonight and they use a mask periodically to keep his breathing going. He had a bath and then got his picture taken with Santa.
So we finally got to see what he looks like with nothing on his face tonight. Pretty cool.
Anyway, here's a few pics and I'll post the one the photographer took of him with Santa when I get it back tomorrow.
This time though, he's been so close to the criteria to go to c-pap (tubes up the nose with a steady flow of oxygen), that they decided to try him on it and see how he would do. He's been on it and doing fine all day.
I guess it took a bit of work by the staff to get him ready to change over, but they did a fine job and it worked.
All the Doctors and Nurses keep coming by to congratulate us on his big day.
It looks a little goofy, but we'll take the progress. He can now use a binky and cry, even though he sounds like a little duck when he does.
He does not really like the device (we don't blame him) but he got to have it off for a while tonight and they use a mask periodically to keep his breathing going. He had a bath and then got his picture taken with Santa.
So we finally got to see what he looks like with nothing on his face tonight. Pretty cool.
Anyway, here's a few pics and I'll post the one the photographer took of him with Santa when I get it back tomorrow.
Monday, December 20, 2010
12/12-12/20/10
Things just keep getting better.
Omi has continued his upswing. He had been having problems with his liver, but it's been working out with the help of the meds he's on.
His feedings have continued to go well. He's almost 5 lbs now. Getting big.
He does have an issue with his eyes that is going to be rechecked this week. He has what they call ROP. Broken down, there are ridges in each eye that are preventing his vessels from growing all the way out to the edges of his eyes. They expect this from babies that have been on oxygen as long as he has been. Not a huge deal, but he might have to have laser surgery if the problem does not go away on it's own. The risk of the surgery would be loss of some peripheral vision and/or nearsightedness. Better than blind in my book though. We'll just have to wait and see what his next test says.
His respiratory issues continue to get better every day. His oxygen needs and rate of breathing have both dropped considerably over the last week or so. The plan is for him to finally have his tube taken out this week. Huge step for him. When that happens, he will have to go on what they call c-pap, which is basically tubes up his nose. I'm sure he won't like it much, but it beats a tube in his throat. And as an added bonus; he will get to suck on his fingers without a bunch of obstructions.
Things are pretty uninteresting right now. Mostly a bunch of lab work and watching his growth rate. After the tube comes out, we will pretty much be waiting around for him to get big and strong enough to leave. I think we're entering the home stretch.
Omi has continued his upswing. He had been having problems with his liver, but it's been working out with the help of the meds he's on.
His feedings have continued to go well. He's almost 5 lbs now. Getting big.
He does have an issue with his eyes that is going to be rechecked this week. He has what they call ROP. Broken down, there are ridges in each eye that are preventing his vessels from growing all the way out to the edges of his eyes. They expect this from babies that have been on oxygen as long as he has been. Not a huge deal, but he might have to have laser surgery if the problem does not go away on it's own. The risk of the surgery would be loss of some peripheral vision and/or nearsightedness. Better than blind in my book though. We'll just have to wait and see what his next test says.
His respiratory issues continue to get better every day. His oxygen needs and rate of breathing have both dropped considerably over the last week or so. The plan is for him to finally have his tube taken out this week. Huge step for him. When that happens, he will have to go on what they call c-pap, which is basically tubes up his nose. I'm sure he won't like it much, but it beats a tube in his throat. And as an added bonus; he will get to suck on his fingers without a bunch of obstructions.
Things are pretty uninteresting right now. Mostly a bunch of lab work and watching his growth rate. After the tube comes out, we will pretty much be waiting around for him to get big and strong enough to leave. I think we're entering the home stretch.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
12/02-12/11/10
:)
Omi has been doing really good the past week or so.
A lot of lab work, and more chemistry lessons, but the long and short is that he's been making noticeable progress.
His feedings have been going really well. He's been tolerating them and pooping like crazy. Just ask his nurses. He pooped on one the other day, then basically ruined his incubator with what can only be described as "an epic blowout".
They keep increasing the amount he's eating, and he's been doing great with it. He had a blood sugar issue for a little bit, so they altered his feeding schedule to where he is fed non stop to even it out. It's been working. He's just over 4lbs now.
They had been feeding him and giving him supplements through what they call a PIC line since he was born. It's a line that has been in his arm and runs all the way to his chest. They can basically leave it in as long as they want and it has saved him from being stuck literally a couple hundred times. They have gone so far down on what he needs through this line that they are planning on taking it out within the next couple days. This is going to be a huge step for him.
He's still on the ventilator, but his need for it has slowly been decreasing. It gets really complicated exactly how they ventilate him, but he's in a mode right now that they use for weening him off of it, and he has been responding positively.
One of his Doctors looked at an x-ray the other day and was very surprised to see that he has no heavy damage to his lungs from the vent, and that he sees no sign of permanent damage. Basically, Omi will grow out of it and his lungs should be completely normal.
So if things keep trending in this direction, we should get to see what he looks like without a tube down his throat and a plastic stick taped to his face soon. I'm sure he will like that.
He obviously thinks he should be off the vent, cause he managed to pull out his tube out the other day. Want to see ten serious people show up quickly in the NICU? Have a kid pull his tube.
According to eyewitness accounts, as soon as it came out, he began to sing Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye.
Seriously though, we're pretty interested to see what he sounds like. I guess it will take him about a week to get his vocal cords going once the vent is gone.
His skin stopped peeling and looks good. He has a few liver issues that make him look bronze, so when he was peeling the joke was us asking the nurses who took him to the beach while we were at work. Nobody fessed, but I did find some sand between his toes. I'll just assume they had fun.
So, things are going great for the little guy right now. Given where we came from at the beginning, we really couldn't ask for more.
He was really sick for a long time, but his Doc told us last night that there is no reason to think that we won't be able to take him home. Granted, we don't know exactly when that will be, but it's nice to hear.
His Nurse Practitioner told me today that he's the toughest kid in the NICU. Also nice to hear.
He's had a really hard road, but managed to overcome everything that's been thrown at him so far. He was the smallest and sickest baby there for a long time, which is not exactly the title anybody wants.
We've seen a lot of families come and go since we've been there. You hear about babies that are already off the vent two days after they're born, go right to feeding and start making plans to go home. It puts it all in perspective to watch it every day and not only realize how sick he really was, but how far he's come as well.
I don't want to discredit the struggles of the other babies in the unit, but we can tell that Omi has become a favorite. He's been there a while and been through a lot. People have come to know him and us pretty well. There are a lot of the staff that we consider friends now. A super nice bunch of dedicated, smart and caring people that love what they do. We can't say enough nice things about them.
The nurses are pretty attached to him and argue over who gets him when they assign duties for the shifts. Aside of all the friends and family rooting him on, (you guys have all been great by the way, thank you) He has a huge cheering section of Doctors, Nurses, Specialists and even the people we see at the Hospital every day that don't work in the NICU.
Everybody loves them some Omi, and do all they can to help him.
Anyway, the good news keeps coming and far outweighs the bad. I think barring any unforeseeable things that might jump up, the worst part is probably behind him.
Go Omi.
Omi has been doing really good the past week or so.
A lot of lab work, and more chemistry lessons, but the long and short is that he's been making noticeable progress.
His feedings have been going really well. He's been tolerating them and pooping like crazy. Just ask his nurses. He pooped on one the other day, then basically ruined his incubator with what can only be described as "an epic blowout".
They keep increasing the amount he's eating, and he's been doing great with it. He had a blood sugar issue for a little bit, so they altered his feeding schedule to where he is fed non stop to even it out. It's been working. He's just over 4lbs now.
They had been feeding him and giving him supplements through what they call a PIC line since he was born. It's a line that has been in his arm and runs all the way to his chest. They can basically leave it in as long as they want and it has saved him from being stuck literally a couple hundred times. They have gone so far down on what he needs through this line that they are planning on taking it out within the next couple days. This is going to be a huge step for him.
He's still on the ventilator, but his need for it has slowly been decreasing. It gets really complicated exactly how they ventilate him, but he's in a mode right now that they use for weening him off of it, and he has been responding positively.
One of his Doctors looked at an x-ray the other day and was very surprised to see that he has no heavy damage to his lungs from the vent, and that he sees no sign of permanent damage. Basically, Omi will grow out of it and his lungs should be completely normal.
So if things keep trending in this direction, we should get to see what he looks like without a tube down his throat and a plastic stick taped to his face soon. I'm sure he will like that.
He obviously thinks he should be off the vent, cause he managed to pull out his tube out the other day. Want to see ten serious people show up quickly in the NICU? Have a kid pull his tube.
According to eyewitness accounts, as soon as it came out, he began to sing Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye.
Seriously though, we're pretty interested to see what he sounds like. I guess it will take him about a week to get his vocal cords going once the vent is gone.
His skin stopped peeling and looks good. He has a few liver issues that make him look bronze, so when he was peeling the joke was us asking the nurses who took him to the beach while we were at work. Nobody fessed, but I did find some sand between his toes. I'll just assume they had fun.
So, things are going great for the little guy right now. Given where we came from at the beginning, we really couldn't ask for more.
He was really sick for a long time, but his Doc told us last night that there is no reason to think that we won't be able to take him home. Granted, we don't know exactly when that will be, but it's nice to hear.
His Nurse Practitioner told me today that he's the toughest kid in the NICU. Also nice to hear.
He's had a really hard road, but managed to overcome everything that's been thrown at him so far. He was the smallest and sickest baby there for a long time, which is not exactly the title anybody wants.
We've seen a lot of families come and go since we've been there. You hear about babies that are already off the vent two days after they're born, go right to feeding and start making plans to go home. It puts it all in perspective to watch it every day and not only realize how sick he really was, but how far he's come as well.
I don't want to discredit the struggles of the other babies in the unit, but we can tell that Omi has become a favorite. He's been there a while and been through a lot. People have come to know him and us pretty well. There are a lot of the staff that we consider friends now. A super nice bunch of dedicated, smart and caring people that love what they do. We can't say enough nice things about them.
The nurses are pretty attached to him and argue over who gets him when they assign duties for the shifts. Aside of all the friends and family rooting him on, (you guys have all been great by the way, thank you) He has a huge cheering section of Doctors, Nurses, Specialists and even the people we see at the Hospital every day that don't work in the NICU.
Everybody loves them some Omi, and do all they can to help him.
Anyway, the good news keeps coming and far outweighs the bad. I think barring any unforeseeable things that might jump up, the worst part is probably behind him.
Go Omi.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
11/27-12/01/10
Up and down, up and down.
They had to stop his feedings a couple days ago when his blood pressure dropped and he was put on dopamine and some medication. That evened out, so they started feeding him again two days ago. So far so good on the feedings.
They consider him a nutritional emergency at this point since he hasn't been able to eat on a consistent basis. It's turned into priority number one now.
So, they put him on hydrocortisone so that they can treat him for a couple issues, and he can eat while he's on it. The immediate side effect; roid rage. So he's been really irritable lately. Yep, Omi is pissed and strong.
He was getting all his nutritional needs covered by an I.V. and has been gaining weight with it. (he's up to 3lbs, 12oz.!) The problem is, when he has had that much of his feeding through an I.V., it begins to create problems with his liver. Feeding him should fix it, so that's what they are doing.
His skin started peeling the other day. Everyone seems to think that it's from how swollen he was after surgery, but they have been running a barrage of tests just to make sure it's not an infection or anything else. So far, all his tests are negative. He looks like he spent too much time in the sun.
They're running a huge amount of tests on him right now. Most of them are complicated and not a lot of fun to try and verbalize, so I'm just going to say that they're doing a bunch of science-y stuff to keep a close watch on him. They're essentially testing him for a bunch of things to rule out problems, and get a jump on anything they would want to treat him for before symptoms show up. Heading things off at the pass.
He is also getting his first vision test today, which I'm sure will piss him off to no end.
I know the posts have become less frequent lately. It's tiring for us to keep up with everything. There doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do everything. We wake up, go to work, go to the hospital, go to bed. Every few days, we do some laundry. Most of the time we're waiting on a test or everyone is watching him, seeing what he's going to do next and what he does determines his treatments. Things move slowly for the most part. I'm not complaining though. We're seeing results. It's all worthwhile.
They had to stop his feedings a couple days ago when his blood pressure dropped and he was put on dopamine and some medication. That evened out, so they started feeding him again two days ago. So far so good on the feedings.
They consider him a nutritional emergency at this point since he hasn't been able to eat on a consistent basis. It's turned into priority number one now.
So, they put him on hydrocortisone so that they can treat him for a couple issues, and he can eat while he's on it. The immediate side effect; roid rage. So he's been really irritable lately. Yep, Omi is pissed and strong.
He was getting all his nutritional needs covered by an I.V. and has been gaining weight with it. (he's up to 3lbs, 12oz.!) The problem is, when he has had that much of his feeding through an I.V., it begins to create problems with his liver. Feeding him should fix it, so that's what they are doing.
His skin started peeling the other day. Everyone seems to think that it's from how swollen he was after surgery, but they have been running a barrage of tests just to make sure it's not an infection or anything else. So far, all his tests are negative. He looks like he spent too much time in the sun.
They're running a huge amount of tests on him right now. Most of them are complicated and not a lot of fun to try and verbalize, so I'm just going to say that they're doing a bunch of science-y stuff to keep a close watch on him. They're essentially testing him for a bunch of things to rule out problems, and get a jump on anything they would want to treat him for before symptoms show up. Heading things off at the pass.
He is also getting his first vision test today, which I'm sure will piss him off to no end.
I know the posts have become less frequent lately. It's tiring for us to keep up with everything. There doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do everything. We wake up, go to work, go to the hospital, go to bed. Every few days, we do some laundry. Most of the time we're waiting on a test or everyone is watching him, seeing what he's going to do next and what he does determines his treatments. Things move slowly for the most part. I'm not complaining though. We're seeing results. It's all worthwhile.
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