Yesterday, the goal was to keep Andrew calm and relaxed. Today, he was almost too calm and relaxed. He was a bit lethargic this morning, with a very slow heart rate (normally it's too fast) and not much interest in squirming, even when he was awake. They gave him an extensive bath to wake him up and get him moving, but he didn't become much more active.
When they rolled him from one side to the other, they noticed that his tummy was red on the side that had been down....when the redness didn't disappear after a little while, they realized that it wasn't just from laying there and suspected an infection. They took blood cultures and noticed that his "band counts," which also point to blood issues, had doubled during the day...it's very clear that he has an infection.
They put him back on his antibiotics, then switched to another new antibiotic when there was no immediate improvement. They started his feedings earlier today, but have since halted them until the infection clears. It's important to get this under control before he moves forward...fortunately, everything else seems to be relatively calm while he's recovering. He was asleep the entire time I was there, and his breathing (on the vent) has been pretty stable and normal. His temperature is actually lower than normal, which can also be a sign of infection, but it's less (psychologically) scary than running a fever.
We're playing a game of sit-and-wait for now, and we have to hope that the antibiotics will be successful. Until then, he's comfortable and not in any pain. More updates as he fights this infection over the next few days....
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