Sunday, January 25, 2009

273rd day in the NICU

Drayke is stable. His blood pressure is good and his heart rate is down to 140-150. Vent settings are high. O2 is at 100% with a PEEP of 10 & pressure support at 14. He is still puffy but not nearly as bad as yesterday. Urine output is great. Tomorrow he is getting an echo and we already know it is going to be terrible. A quick ultrasound last night showed that his right heart is hardly doing anything at all. So basically we are all the way back to where we were when we first got to Vandy. Drayke's hands & feet have finally started to warm up again so that means we are again getting good blood flow to his extremeties.

The doctors main concern at this time is his heart. With the function being so poor it could give out, but that was before he went back onto milrinone. That stuff worked miracles before. He has a slight galloping sound to his heart beat that he has had before. Dr M said today that they are hopeful since he has proven before that he is a very strong young man.

From all of his blood work it appears that the NEC is clearing up.

And all this was caused by catching the flu. Fortunately no other babies in our pod have it (there are 6 rooms). In a few days we are going to start weaning some meds to see what he can tolerate.

I am hoping he wakes up sometime soon. I miss his gorgeous eyes and wiggliness.

Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes.

We just called his nite nurse and Drayke is licking his lips and moving a little bit. She was very excited to see this given he has not moved for four days.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have they been able to restart his feedings yet? What about his vent settings? Are they up? Is he still on Nitric? What are the docs saying about his prognosis?

Anonymous said...

Anon,

I can tell you as a former NICU mom who dealt with a NEC scare that they are going to give his intestines a few days to heal before starting him back on any feeds.

They doctors are also going to be very conservative on giving out a set prognosis on Drayke. He has come so far but has had a major setback. They do not have a crystal ball and prefer to take things day by day or hour by hour instead of giving predictions.

Anonymous said...

We are still praying hard for Drayke.

Anonymous said...

Leslie,

I am a very experienced NICU nurse. :)

sleepygrrrl said...

I found your blog through another blog and just wanted to tell you that I am the mother of a heart baby and my daughter has had the majority of her heart surgeries done at Vandy. Drayke will be in good hands and you will too. The staff is wonderful.

Laura (speaking for everyone!) said...

Glad to hear there is some improvement- no matter how much or little. JD had NEC when he was still just a 1 pounder- it is a terrifying thing- I pray Draykes' resolves quickly without much problem. Will defintley be praying for his precious heart.

Anonymous said...

This is great to hear. Still sending good vibes your way. Be patient and positive!

Anonymous said...

Oops. Anyway you can delete comments? My auto-fill thing put in my full name.

Anonymous said...

Praise God that he is stable!!! He is so strong he is going to pull through and get better. Stupid flu!!!We continue to pray for his strength and yours as well. Get better little man!!!

celluloid_jam said...

So very glad that he is stable!! He is certainly a very strong little man. He will beat this!

Melissa said...

I read about your son in a post by one of your friends that is in my cafemom group. I just wanted to tell you I'm so sorry for whay your son & your family as well are having to go through. I will keep your son & family in my thoughts & prayers. God bless.

Melissa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Susie said...

Your son is one amazing little person. I cannot believe how strong he is. I'm so happy to hear that he is getting rid of some of that water and moving around.

You are in my thoughts.