Our
Story
Day 5 --
07/24/04
6:00 AM:
Joshua Ryan is doing well. His blood gas was within parameters, and there
has been no changes in his ventilator settings (they had been cut back to 17
sometime yesterday, and didn't change overnight). The PIC line didn't go
all the way in...only up to his shoulder, so it's not considered a central line.
They will leave it in as a peripheral line, though, because it can be used for
IVs and is more stable and lasts longer than a regular IV. At this point,
they're not going to attempt to put a pick line in anywhere else to get a
central line, but might consider it a little later on (once it's done, the lines
can come out of his belly button, and we're a step closer to being able to hold
him!).
11:00 AM:
We had a great visit! The lights were off of him, so he wasn't wearing his
"sunglasses." He opened his eyes a bunch and even though he's not focusing
yet, it was really great to see his little eyes. He was very active...lots
of stretching, yawning, opening and closing his eyes. He actually grasped
onto my little finger and "held my hand" -- what a great feeling! He's got
a pretty good little grip for someone so small! All his numbers were
good...they'll probably transfuse him later today (his hematocrit was at 34, and
Lou Ann said that the transfusion would help keep his numbers up). The
orthopedic doctor came by to take a look at him, and said that they don't think
that his little foot is club, which is a really good thing. They want to
start physical therapy with him on Monday -- just manual manipulations and
exercises of his foot to try to get it straightened out and strengthened.
If necessary, later on they might end up splinting the foot to help "train" it
to straighten out, but will do the physical therapy first and see how things go.
Once they decide what needs to be done, we'll be able to help with the PT when
we're there, so that's a really good thing -- it's extra hands-on time for us,
and it allows us to feel like we can actually do something to help him develop.
10:00 PM:
No changes from the morning and afternoon. Josh is still very active and
is opening his eyes a lot. His blood gases are OK -- all his numbers are
staying steady. He only has one line coming out of his belly button
(instead of 3), so I'm guessing that the PIC line is serving its purpose and
they were able to move two of the lines from his belly button into the PIC
line.
Back to NICU Page
11:00 AM:
We had a great visit! The lights were off of him, so he wasn't wearing his
"sunglasses." He opened his eyes a bunch and even though he's not focusing
yet, it was really great to see his little eyes. He was very active...lots
of stretching, yawning, opening and closing his eyes. He actually grasped
onto my little finger and "held my hand" -- what a great feeling! He's got
a pretty good little grip for someone so small! All his numbers were
good...they'll probably transfuse him later today (his hematocrit was at 34, and
Lou Ann said that the transfusion would help keep his numbers up). The
orthopedic doctor came by to take a look at him, and said that they don't think
that his little foot is club, which is a really good thing. They want to
start physical therapy with him on Monday -- just manual manipulations and
exercises of his foot to try to get it straightened out and strengthened.
If necessary, later on they might end up splinting the foot to help "train" it
to straighten out, but will do the physical therapy first and see how things go.
Once they decide what needs to be done, we'll be able to help with the PT when
we're there, so that's a really good thing -- it's extra hands-on time for us,
and it allows us to feel like we can actually do something to help him develop.