Day 50

Hello all - sorry for the delay in updates, our home computer is down, so luckily the NICU has computers available to use so we can keep you updated (and pay our bills online, haha!).

Kale had a decent day yesterday, he is still on the high frequency vent and his settings have stayed the same. His blood gases yesterday were pretty inconsistent. He had one gas where his CO2 was at 73, then 50 then 64 which is a pretty big swing. Today they have looked more consistent and have stayed in the 60s. Today the Dr. is going to start a different type of steroid. This is Prednisone (no idea how to spell that) and he was on hydrocortisone. This is a higher dose of steroid and will go for a shorter period of time. He will probably be on it 4-6 days or so. We are REALLY hoping and praying that this will work and give his lungs the boost they need to get in good shape. The Dr. is hoping that after 2-3 days on this steroid they will be able to extubate him and get him off the vent all together. He would then likely put him on a treatment called Vapotherm, which would involve wearing a tube around his face with prongs up his nose, like you see when people are on oxygen. This has it's pros and cons. The benefits would be getting extubated and off the vent. The longer he is on the vent the more damage it does to his lung tissues and doesn't allow them to heal as well. The cons involve the risk of being intubated again if his body can't tolerate being off the vent, it causes some trauma to his throat and is a likely possibility. This will also make him do all the work on his own, so if he can't tolerate this it will probably be short lived and he would go back on the vent. SO - the hope is that the steroid treatment kicks in and his lungs start getting stronger in a few days then they can monitor that on the lung x-rays and with his gases. Once he gets to a good place they will extubate and see how he does on vapotherm. We're holding our breath, crossing our fingers and saying LOTS of prayers that this will help Kale.

He is doing pretty well otherwise. He is gaining weight like crazy, he is up to 3 lbs. 5 oz. today. This isn't all that great, because he gained 3 oz. overnight and he's pretty puffy so he's retaining some fluid. He is still on Diurel so hopefully that helps dry him out a little and gets some fluid out of his lungs to reduce some pressure.

Kale has his eye exam today - something we're told isn't all that pleasant for the little ones so we are opting to not be present for that. The eye doctor will look to see if his retinas are developing normally. Babies that are born this early are at risk for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). Essentially this is when the blood vessels in the retina begin forming incorrectly and instead of growing straight from the back of the eye to the front, they begin getting tangled and dividing. This can cause a lot of vision issues and potentially detached retinas or blindness. So Kale's exam today will tell us if he has developed this or if he has any other eye issues. If he has (we're obviously hoping he hasn't) then there are things they can do to try and treat it, like surgery. He'll have follow up appointments before he goes home, and if they find something today then they will probably do another exam in the next few weeks.

That's the big news for the day. Kale could use your prayers for his lungs to react well to this treatment and have a successful transition off the vent. This is going to be a pretty big jump for him so we're hoping it goes well but also being realistic about the possibilities of it not working. We're hoping to avoid the latter :)

I'll check back in tomorrow!