All Quiet on the NICU Front

Andrew had another day with the same sort of progress. They're only testing his blood every six hours, but he's been consistently weaned off his ventilator. He's down to 14 breaths per minute, from 20, and steady on his oxygen. They've started to come down on his Versed drip, cutting the dosage in half. They'll replace the other half with methadone, which should help alleviate any dependency Andrew has formed on his painkillers. As they wean him further, they'll raise the methadone dosage, then slowly wean that down as well.

In the last 24 hours, he's only had one or two agitated moments, and turning up his oxygen temporarily has seemed to stabilize him reasonably well. He's still very much awake most of the time, and the nurses have used everything from personal attention to mobiles to music to television as methods for distraction. We brought in a small music player and tiny speakers to put near his head and play to keep him entertained. Hopefully we won't have to use TV as a long-term babysitter quite yet.

When they started Andrew on antibiotics two days ago (a half-day pre-op), they took blood samples for cultures. One of those samples, from his arterial line, grew some colonies, suggesting a possible infection. They've pulled that line and put in a new one on his other arm, they've taken cultures every day since (all negative), and they've been monitoring his other vital signs for any other signs of infection. All reports from surgeons, doctors, and nurses have been great. There's no fever, no belly tenderness, and no positive cultures. It's possible that the antibiotics have already started working, or that the test may have been contaminated from the plastic itself. Either way, he's shown no adverse effects and has continued progressing in the right direction, so no one seems to be worried.

For now, I believe their strategy moving forward will be more of the same...weaning on ventilator and narcotics, watching his G-tube for any output, and keeping him happy and stable at all times. Once feedings start, we'll talk to the doctor about their new plan.