Windshield Wipers

August 26th 10:45 pm

It's one of those weird things.....you're driving along and it starts to drizzle.....you know it's raining, but you don't turn on the windshield wipers.....you can see just fine.....stop lights, signs, other cars, they're all there and you're driving just fine.....then at some point you decide to turn on the windshield wipers......WOW, that's so much clearer.....I didn't realize how much my vision was blurred.....it's so much clearer now. Well, today we had the NICU windshield wipers turned on. We met with the current Attending Doctor on duty Dr. Underwood. I really like him. He spent close to a half an hour with us talking about both boys. He was candid, honest and patient with us. We asked a lot of questions, as usual, and he made genuine attempts to answer them all. The ones he could not, he was honest about not being able to, but still tried to give us an idea of what he thought. It was the first time that we really felt like we were given the bigger picture of the boys current state and where they may be headed. He spoke in as many specifics as he could and was very candid about making "best guesses" when we asked him to. The bottom line plays out like this. Tyler seems to be progressing relatively well. There is concern over his current breathing situation on high flow cannula. It is being watched carefully and a decision will be made on Thursday to continue this course or to place him back on CPAP. Tests on Thursday will help to determine his course of action. Parker is sick, much sicker than I was allowing myself to admit. He is still on the breathing tube and vent, and, barring some miraculous turn around, he will need to remain on the vent for at least a couple more weeks. The bottom line is, he is actually worse off now then he was three weeks ago when they re-intubated him. His lungs are just struggling. His road to recovery will be significantly longer than Tyler's. Again, barring some dramatic changes, Tyler will definitely be coming home before Parker. Time tables are still very open ended, but it is definitely more clear now that both boys are not on the same path to recovery. The good news of the day was that both mommy and daddy got good quality cuddle time in with the boys. I got to hold my little hero Parker. He snuggled in my arms for the better part of a half an hour. He seemed at peace. Mommy got to hold Tyler for another two hours today as well. He buried his little face in her chest and seemed happy as a clam to just hang out on mom's chest. So there's the current state of the life and times of Tyler and Parker as we know it. Just like with the weather, we've learned that things can change suddenly in a very short amount of time. We'll continue to adjust the wiper settings, the headlights and anything else that needs to be changed along the way.