Hunter Pie

Today on our visit with Hunter we noticed several big changes.

Change Number 1:
Hunter was receiving several additional IVs. He gets his nourishment from what looks like a bag of yellow gatorade. They had added one bag of sugar, probably to sweeten it up. He was also getting a blood transfusion. The blood was the creepier of the two, but the doctor explained that nearly all babies in their first two months don't make red blood cells. They regularly take blood to test his gases and need to replace the blood they take so he doesn't become anemic.

Change Number 2:
Hunter was removed from the oscillator. Hooray? No. Instead he was put on 2 - TWO - bigger machines.

So there's my little guy laying in his box getting a blood transfusion, several IVs, and two machines helping him breathe. He didn't mind though, he's cool.

The doctor was kind enough to explain everything. I know I wrote earlier about how being on breathing machines for too long can cause damage to the lungs. Hunter's doctor says that he has been harmed enough that we know he will have some sort of Chronic Lung Disease, we just don't know how bad it will be. Right now it is surfacing as something called Pulmonary Interstitial Emphysema (PIE). His doctor didn't go too far on explaining what it is, but she also didn't seem too worried. This new machine they have him on is supposed to help it get better. By the time we left today he had received an additional X-Ray which showed it was already starting to clear up.

In the mean time, however, his oxygen is still way up. They aren't currently feeding him. He has to lay a certain way to help his PIE improve. They're doing more cultures to see if he may have another infection. Hunter doesn't seem to care that he's sick though. He's still squirming and kicking - he's cool.

Although he's facing many challenges, he's doing very well and as soon as this is over he should have plenty of time to rest and work on growing.