Still Going Well

I just got off of the phone with Hunter's nurse, and she says everything is going well. She didn't have much to say other than his oxygen is currently at 30% but she's going to be turning it down soon.

Hunter still isn't digesting all of his food. He is still being fed 4 ml every four hours and they probably won't be increasing it until he consistently digests all of his food. In the meantime they've been making adjustments to his Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) to ensure he gets the calories that he needs. He's been on TPN since the day he was born, it's the yellow gatorade bag that I've referred to several times.

He's getting another chest X-ray tonight. His doctor has been ordering regular X-rays for him to make sure his lungs are recovering well. The X-rays show how his fight against his infection is going as well as any damage from his breathing machine.

Earlier today they noticed that Hunter had a heart murmur. This isn't anything new, this is the third time it's been brought to our attention. Since they found it again he's been ordered another echo cardiogram. I'm not sure what they're looking for; the other times they were checking for PDA, a condition where a tube that is supposed to close when born either doesn't close or opens back up. His nurse tonight said that no results have been written up yet so we won't know that until tomorrow.

Everybody at home is still sick, and now I'm getting it too. I was trying to fight it the best I could, but I lost. Mommy and Alyssa seem to be getting better slowly, Gavin and I are at the beginning of the cold though. This will be the second day that we haven't been able to visit Hunter. Not being able to be there is an odd feeling, but at least he is stable. It would be a completely different situation if he wasn't doing as well as he has been.

About the picture - Once while the nurse wasn't looking Mommy looked my way and made an odd gesture. I gave her that twisted face look that means "I don't know what you mean. Use words."

She pointed at the diaper bag we had brought in and whispered, so none of the nurses would hear, "take one of his diapers."

I quickly snatched one of the diapers out his bed and hid it away in the diaper bag. We sure got them on that one, they never suspected a thing. Anyway, the picture is one of Hunter's diapers compared to one of the diapers that his almost 2 year old brother and 3 year old sister wear. He has a small bottom.