Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Today was a good day. Caleb is off the last medicine to increase his blood pressure. Now he is on one to keep it down. Go figure! He is off one of the pain medications, now he is only on morphine and Tylenol.

He still has some extra fluid, so he is still on diuretics. We have had a tough time keeping his diuretics at the right levels because he is short of access to give him medications. We have limped along one short because it is very difficult to get a new line placed in little bodies that have been poked too many times. Now that we have weaned off some of the medications, the nurses don't have to switch as much to get things to work.

Caleb has a little oozing from his incision. It is not anything they are super concerned about, but they did put him on some antibiotics today.

Caleb has "sprinted" (practiced breathing without much support from the ventilator) several times today. Usually, they sprint for one hour a few times before they take out the breathing tube. Caleb sprinted twice this morning for one hour at a time, and once this afternoon for two hours. They are planning on sprinting him for one more two hour stretch. He has done very well so far. They are doing the extra sprints to get him as strong as possible for tomorrow and to see if he is really capable of coming off the ventilator with his diaphragm the way it is. They are planning on extubating him tomorrow morning, so we should know tomorrow if he needs the surgery or not.

He is still being fed breast milk through his NG tube and is still doing very well. Now he is up to 20 mL every hour. The next step is 40 mL every two hours to get him ready to eat more like a normal baby.

Tomorrow will be a big day. If we can get him off the ventilator, that will be a huge step forward. Hopefully, the second try will be the charm!

4 comments:

  1. Go Caleb!!! We will be praying that second time is the charm!!!

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  2. Thanks for doing such a great job keeping us updated. Caleb is in my thoughts and prayers each day--it is great to stay in the loop on how your little guy is doing.

    Carol K.

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  3. Praying specifically for the ventilator to be removed SOON!! Come on, Caleb!!
    Aunt Beth

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  4. Jen and Phil, we are thinking about you and know tomorrow is going to be a great day for Caleb!!!
    Betsy and Tim

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