Thursday, July 29, 2010

Back in the Hospital

Good Evening Everyone,

Update on the feeding tube....it was going well at home.  They wanted us to bottle feed Emory 3 times a day with cereal in his bottle, which we did.  However, he threw up every bottle.  With the other 21 hours in the day that he was on the feeding tube, he spit up some, but it was very minor and what you would consider a normal newborn to be spitting up.

We had our cardiologist appointment today at 2:20 and went through the usual routine of weight check, blood pressure, oxygen check, EKG, etc.  Emory's weight was up to 10 pounds 4 ounces, which is 14 ounces more than what it was at our last cardiologist visit two weeks ago.  That is what they wanted because average children gain about an ounce a day when they are infants.  So, that was good; however, all of that was gained within the last few days because of Emory being on the feeding tube.  After talking with the dr. briefly about our concerns, he said we needed to do another echocardiogram and that he needed to discuss some things with some of the other doctors.

After the echocardiogram, the nurse brought us papers indicating we were leaving the dr. office and going to the hospital.  This left us very confused but it was confirmed when the dr. came in.  He said that the weight gain was good and that by waiting for Emory to get older or to weigh more would really not make a huge difference in the surgery, how he reacts to it, his survival rate, etc.  He says that there is a 98% chance that Emory will come out of the surgery just fine but it will be afterwards that we will have to watch out for infection.  Mind you, I think doctors just have to say those things.  Another cardiologist told us they had no doubt that he would come out of surgery fine.  Of course, we all know that it's out of our hands anyway!

So, we left the dr. office, drove to Eggleston, got checked in, met with the day nurse, talked at length with the "fellow", and then met with the night nurse very briefly before coming home.  They were going to do some chest xrays tonight and move him to a room that will be right across from the nurses station.  Also, his monitors are all hooked up to the nurses cell phones so that if his oxygen level decreases too much or if he stops breathing, it will alarm them immediately.  We needed to come home, get our other two boys settled, get some things done, etc.

My parents were still here from when they brought the two boys home from being in TN.  They left around dinner time to go home, get their motor home, clothes, etc. and then will come back on Saturday to keep the boys while we're at the hospital.  We don't know any definites yet regarding Emory's surgery, but do know that he will have his open heart surgery within the next few days.  Afterwards, he will be in CICU and then the cardiac step down unit.  We will meet with a social worker tomorrow and get a tour of the CICU and she will fill us in on what to possibly expect.

The attending physician that is on tonight is the one that came to my room just after giving birth and told us of Emory's condition.  If I'm not mistaken, he's the one who diagnosed Emory in the NICU when he was less than 24 hours old.  Another physician comes on in the morning and all of the doctors and the cardiothorasic surgeons will meet tomorrow morning and will schedule his surgery.  The cardiologist just felt that it would be good for him to be in the hospital for his breathing to be monitored before surgery.  Of course, if a blue baby is born or there is some other kind of emergency, those surgeries will take place before Emory's.

We did not expect this to all happen so soon.  We knew it was coming, but didn't know it would be now.  But, we do know that all of this is in God's hands and all we can do right now is trust in Him.  Please keep us in your prayers as well as family and friends who are taking care of the other two boys and of course, the physicians taking care of Emory.  Once we have a surgery date, we will post that immediately on facebook and will update the blog. 

Blessings,

Twila

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