July 31, 2008 Night

Stu and I just got back from our visit with Brandon. Kate is his nurse tonight. Stu got to kangaroo with Brandon. Brandon had a good night. He put back on some of the weight he lost from last night. It is common to lose a little weight after going from the vent to the IMV since he is working harder to breathe. Brandon was awake a good part of our visit tonight.

Quick Update

I was at the hospital this afternoon visiting Brandon for a few hours. He is up to 19 cc's of milk (breast milk only again because I had so much frozen in the freezer) and it still on the nasal IMV. Dr. Alemany said he looks good, sounds great, and there is an 80%-90% chance that he will stay off the vent. I got to kangaroo with Brandon for two hours this afternoon.

Still Off the Vent

As of 9:20 this morning Brandon is still off the vent and on the nasal IMV. He has had some desats but it seems like less than he did the first time he was off the vent. Plus he was having desats on the vent so maybe they will keep him on the IMV. Stu and I went to the hospital yesterday when he got off of work and Dr. Alemany came to talk to us. He said there was a 70%-80% chance that Brandon would stay off the vent this time. It will depend on how hard he is working and also on his blood gases that he gets throughout the day. It seems the majority of desats are still during his cares when he is touched more than he wants. He also has been very particular about what position he is put in. He definitely likes being on his stomach much more than any other position.

Nasal IMV

I went to the hospital this afternoon around 12:30 and stayed until 2:30. When I got there I saw that Brandon was off the vent and on nasal IMV. Nasal IMV looks like CPAP but gives Brandon a little more support than CPAP does. It gives him puffs of air. The rate was set at 60 which means he is getting 60 puffs a minute and the amount of oxygen was anywhere from 26%-30%. Dr. Alemany came over to talk to me and said they are trying him on it but that if he is working too hard and gets too tired he will go back on the vent. He said he is hopeful that he will stay off this time. When I was there it started looking like Brandon was taking really deep breaths so his nurse, Kelsey, had Dr. Alemany come take a look at Brandon but he said everything seemed okay for now.

Another good visit

Stu and I had another good visit with Brandon. Only one desat and it was right after his oxygen had been turned down when we were kangarooing. I kangarooed for 2 1/2 hours tonight. Brandon's vent rate was lowered again. He was at 30 tonight and his oxygen percentage from the vent was 24% which is low saince room air is 21%. He had a new nurse tonight. Her name is Lisa. I like her but I did miss Sue.

July 29, 2008 afternoon

Brandon had a good afternoon when I was visiting today. His vent rate was lowered to 35 and he was on 24% oxygen. He was turned down to 21% which is room air for a little while when we were kangarooing. I kangarooed with Brandon for almost 1 1/2 hours and then had to put him back because another baby was being admitted and they would be x-raying the other baby. They did not want Brandon out when they were using the x-ray machine. Sue called out sick for tonight. I am really upset that she will not be with Brandon. She will be back sometime next week. I think on Tuesday. Dr. Alemany came over to talk to me when I was at the hospital. He said he will probably take Brandon off of the vent either tomorrow or Thursday since he is doing so well and try the CPAP again.

Pictures