June 17, 2011

Today has been a great day! Aaron was stable overnight, and he made many progressions throughout the day! The doctor told us last night that he would like to remove one of Aaron's chest tubes today, so we were a bit surprised when he decided to remove two because of Aaron's progress. He removed two, and the follow-up x-ray was good.

Aaron's bilirubin count did go up overnight from 15 to 15.9, so the nurse added a third phototherapy lamp; he now has a large and a small lamp on him, and he also lies on a third lamp. I was able to change a couple of diapers, and we had a teensy bit of poop...this is good as it will help his bilirubin count to go down. The count should also start going down due to his bruising starting to fade.

Throughout the day Aaron continued to have great urine output, and the respiratory therapist was able to gradually decrease his nitric oxides. I was able to speak with his doctor late this afternoon, and I was very encouraged to hear of his plan for the next week. It is his goal that by next Friday Aaron is off of the oscillator and perhaps even beginning to wean off of the ventilator. He also plans to wean him off of two medications that he is currently taking. We were thrilled to hear such positivity in his voice because this is the same doctor who initially was quite concerned Aaron wouldn't make it. He actually told me today that he was afraid of that the first couple of days. He apparently had yet to see what God was capable of!

We did have a minor setback tonight. Aaron's second follow-up x-ray showed that an air pocket had reformed. The nurse and respiratory therapist turned him which enabled some of the air to escape, but another x-ray showed that he would need another chest tube. He got through the procedure just fine, and the air began to flow immediately. In fact, the nurse practitioner pulled 8ml of air right away. When I left him, he was prepared to have a restful night.