Merry Day after Christmas!!!
This was the best Christmas ever!! Thinking back, all Randy and I could have hoped for was for Cooper to be off ecmo by Christmas. As we all know, that happened earlier in the week. Tuesday to be exact. He was able to have his hernia repair surgery on Thursday. And Saturday, Christmas, before we could even get the kids over to see Cooper, they were able to take him off the vent all together.
So, on Christmas day, not only did Jaxon and Lea get to meet their little brother for the first time, but we got to hold him for the first time and hear him make noises. Didn't cry right away. They told us that it could take a little bit. They had him on supplemental oxygen when he came off the vent as well. He did have a new IV site in his head. Didn't like to see that, but whatever they needed to do.... The other good news was that they still hadn't needed to give him any fentanyl and they had reduced the pentobarbitol by half. Oh, and the kettamine was also stopped Christmas morning.
It was a great Christmas for us and made us the talk of the NICU and rounds on Sunday morning. Everyone was so happy for us and thought we had the best Christmas present ever. We completely agree.
This morning when we went over to see Cooper, he was sleeping. Actually sleeping and we really didn't want to wake him. So, we got the update from one of our favorite nurses, Amanda. She was just as excited as we were. She is one of the nurses that has been on Cooper's case from the start, and she is great.
So, the latest updates on Cooper...he is on room air. He is still off the fentanyl and they don't anticipate having to give him any again. The pentobarbitol was cut in half yet again and they hope to discontinue this by tomorrow morning. He received his last dose of Lasix at noon today. They have reduced the amount of morphine as well. However, they will need to go slower on the morphine since he has been on it for a while now. But, so far so good on reducing the pain meds and sedatives. He hasn't had any side affects or withdrawal symptoms that he could have had coming off of these.
The IV site on his head was taken out as well. His arterial line that was in his bellybutton was removed, as well as the staples from the hernia surgery.
The doctors all approved trying to get him to eat today. I actually was able to try to give him his first bottle. They started with 10 ml, but he only took 3 for me. The rest had to be given by his NG tube. So, he was able to get rid of 3 lines/tubes going into him and then gained one back. We just called and the nurse told us that he never did have any reflux or even any spit up from either the 11 am feeding or his 2 pm feeding. He actually took 7 mls at the 2 pm feeding. Cooper is figuring this out, and we couldn't be happier. The sooner he figures this out, the sooner he comes home.
And lastly, (I know, I'm long winded today) his chest x-ray today showed great improvement. His heart has moved yet a little more to a central location. His right lung is clearing up more. There had been some infiltrates, but they are mostly gone now. His left lung has expanded even more and now fills about 2/3 of the space. This a lot more than the doctors and we had even hoped for. The remaining space is full of fluid and there is a chance that once this is absorbed by the body, that he may get even more lung tissue to expand. They are hearing good breath sounds from this lung as well.
Looking back so far, it seems that once they switched the vents and the hernia repair surgery was done, Cooper just said "I feel better now" and he has made this great turn around. The nurses that have been on his case and even the others around the unit, are just as amazed as we are. We all are just as happy as can be and see the future as very bright. Even if he is in the NICU for another 4 weeks as they are anticipating, we are positive that Cooper will continue to amaze us from now on.
Sonya
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