July 20, 2007

Friday:

Well, Michael had another day of progress. His IV feeds went down and his stomach feeds went up and his sedatives went down. And ... first his ventilator settings went down, then they were turned off, and he was switched to CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) after his blood gasses came back "crazy good" (to quote his nurse). What that means is that the machine no longer helps him breathe, just offers air pressure (but the ventilator is set to turn back on if Michael stops breathing altogether).

On a funnier note, it appears that the swelling in Michael's head is going down. The nurses say that his head is the same size but the pictures say otherwise. In any event, his face is sure less puffy. Now the only thing swelling his head is his nurses telling him how cute he is.

As for the lung issue ... no news. The pulmonology consult has not yet occurred. In the meantime, Adam and I choose to hope that the inflation issue in his lung will resolve itself as Michael moves more and the sedative continues to be reduced. The neonatologist has said this is a possible outcome, and we like the idea, so that is what we are pulling for. However, we have been warned that more intervention may be necessary.