Tyler's new challenge

August 7 10 pm

So it's the nature of the beast to do a lot of guessing with micro-preemies. That guessing is not limited to their over analyzing father. I've figured out that the docs do a lot of it as well. Albeit, their guesses are a teensy weensy bit more educated than mine........okay, okay the fact that I stayed in a holiday inn express last night doesn't compensate for my complete lack of medical knowledge. My degree in math and masters in educational administration pretty much both leave me impotent in medical analysis as well.....in fact being a teacher probably hinders me more than anything......it has allowed to me learn just enough to actually think I know something, when in fact I don't know diddly squat which basically makes me a menace!!:):) By the way, did anyone get my "holiday inn express" joke.....hopefully so, cuz I tried it today and it drew blank stares......long story short (yeah right!!!) while I was cupping/cuddling Parker a group of four professionally dressed women came through the Lion room. The leader of the pack asked if they could step up and see Parker. Being the proud adoring father I said "absolutely". They asked how he was doing. I assumed they were all medical professionals so I proceeded to tell them what I knew.......here's the dangerous part......using all of the medical lingo that has become so entrenched in my everyday vocabulary I gave them a very brief synopsis using words like: PDA, ligation, FIO2, saturation rates, bradycardic, tachycardic, septic and so on. I was pretty proud of myself (partially for using these terms correctly in context, but mostly for being so succinct...I summed it all up in about 30 seconds). After finishing, one of them looked at me and said " are you a physician as well as his father?" At which point I replied "No, I just stayed at a Holiday Inn Express Last Night". Being ever so proud of my witty little reply, imagine my amazement (and by amazement I mean brutal embarrassment) when they stared blankly at me, then treated me to the gratuitous yet awkward chuckle. Come to find out that the leader of the pack was the head of the entire UCD NICU ( thankfully she actually gave me a genuine laugh) while the other three were representatives of different organizations who had donated generously to the hospital through children's miracle network. They were non-medical professionals, who were undoubtedly thinking "who's this guy throwing around all the big words....what a dork!!" Oh well, I still think my explanation was good and my joke was funny.....I'm a legend in my own mind:):) But once again, I digress.....back to the guessing and what's happening with the heroes of our story. Tyler: His feeds are up 27 ml every three hours which he is handling very well. He is still cruising along pretty well on his nasal cannula. They have not reduced his rate any yet, but they have not seen the need to increase it either, so he continues on repairing and developing the all important lung tissue. The guessing comes into play with heart rate. He has been some what tachycardic lately meaning his heart rate is above normal. It's not at a dangerous level, but it is abnormal and they are trying to decipher the mystery. First they thought it was the caffeine they were giving him (remember the vanilla latte's). Seeing the need for the caffeine dwindle they discontinued it. Problem still present. Then they thought it may be due to a low red blood cell count and he is having to work harder to get oxygen through his body......so the gave him a transfusion of blood......problem still present......Then they thought it may be from the Albuterol treatments (inhaled medicine to help with with his breathing....inhalers that people with asthma take). Problem still present. It could be from being over hydrated, but he doesn't present with any signs of that. Maybe dehydration....he is on a diuretic which makes you give up some of your body's water, but they are skeptical of that. So today they took a bunch of blood to check his thyroid......a long shot, but, once again.......some educated guessing is occurring. That test will take a few days....we'll see. Other than that he seems to be doing pretty well and has adjusted to his new living arrangements. Parker: they have been steadily increasing his feeds to get him back to normal after his drama a few days ago. After taking him off feeds totally for 24 hours, he is back up to 22ml every three hours which is almost exactly where he was. He is tolerating the feeds well. His vent situation remains unchanged. His peep is still at six and he seems to be right where he needs to be for now. There is no dramatic improvement on the surface, but I believe he is healing and growing lung tissue without the stress of being off the vent. Hopefully a few more days will find him strong enough to be extabated once again which will make me very very happy.....but I can be patient. His latest challenge is his urine output. Today the nurse found a pretty significant decrease in the little yellow surprise that he is usually so willing to leave in his diaper. She tracked it throughout the day and was concerned enough to make a call to the docs. Hopefully our midnight call tonight will find him peeing like a drunken sailor in a dark ally.

A last note: tomorrow is my and Heather's fifth wedding anniversary. After an afternoon doctor's appointment to check on her high blood pressure we will visit with the boys. We have late dinner reservations followed by a ritualistic viewing of our wedding video......why the breakdown of our itinerary??? Well, I may not be making a blog entry tomorrow night and didn't want anyone to think it was an issue with the twins. We'll see how tired I am:):)