October 2nd, 2007

At least one more week in Detroit...

Eyes:
Carver's left eye is still a little sore and puffy. He didn't like having it touched and looked at by the eye doctor today. She really struggled to get a good look. He's a strong little guy. The doctor wanted to give it one more week before sending us home. Most of the blood is gone from his right eye. She was pretty pleased. The doctor will see him again on Tuesday. Our routine eye day.

Kinnick's eyes are looking good. The eye doctor didn't express any concern with Kinnick's eyes. The doctor will see her again on Tuesday.

Lungs:
Carver is doing amazing. He isn't requiring much oxygen. He spends most of the day on/or near room air (21%).

Kinnick is still struggling with her lungs. She's not requiring a lot of oxygen 35 - 45% most of the time. They have her on 2lt flow. She acts miserable with all of the flow. It dries her nose out and you can hear all of the air leaking out of her nose. Can you imagine how irritating that would be? Tonight, the nurse changed her to 1 1/2 lt flow and she did better. She rested easy and just seemed so much happier. Her oxygen needs remained between 35 - 45%. So, I don't think the flow is making any difference - other then making her mad. Several things were done today to get to the bottom of Kinnick's breathing problems. They did an echocardiogram today to look for cardiopulmonary disease. They did NOT find any disease. Tomorrow, they're going to do an EKG. They're just ruling out heart disease and making sure the heart is functioning properly with all of the lung issues she's had all of her life. They swabbed her nose to test for RSV along with a variety of other viruses. We should get those results back tomorrow. Tomorrow, they will discuss checking for pseudomonus (a form of pneumonia) since she has had a history of this in the past. They will also explore ways to determine if there is an obstruction in the lungs (possibly the scar tissue that I mentioned in my last couple of updates). They will also look into a different high flow cannula that provides more moisture.

RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus):
This respiratory virus is the #1 cause of hopitalization in babies under a year. Both babies were given a shot today called "Synagis". This is the only FDA approved medication to help protect babies at high risk from severe RSV infection. Each dose gives the babies enough RSV-fighting antibodies to help prevent a severe RSV infection for about 28 - 30 days. They will receive this shot once a month until April or May. This will not prevent them from getting the infection, but should cause it to be much more mild. It would be life threatening for Kinnick and Carver to get RSV.

Birthday news:
Today is my son, Harrison's 10th Birthday. Happy Birthday Harrison! I wish I could be there to celebrate the double digits. We'll have a big party when Mom and the babies return to Wichita.

Kinnick and Carver turned 6mths old September 29th. I can't believe they are already 6mths old. Wow, where does the time go?