when I started this blog five years ago, I was a pet sitter and the name animal-crackers made sense. now I'm a stay-at-home-dad and freelance writer, but rather than confuse everyone by getting a different blog, it's just easier to keep posting things here.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
More crap
Dylan suffered a setback today. A misplaced feeding tube left milk in his lungs, causing all sorts of problems. He's not in much immediate danger, but now there's the possibility of pneumonia.
The past month hasn't been full of progress. Although he's now four times larger than his birth weight, he hasn't increased the number of times he nurses each day. It's been stuck at three, with the other five going through a tube (now threaded through his nose).
Dr. Cho had called around 4:30 to discuss this. Reflux, regurgitate, more tests, possible vocal cord damage, blah blah blah.
(Wait a minute, back up. Vocal cord damage? Has he not heard this kid scream? More on that later.)
About an hour later, he calls again. Dylan had ripped the feeding tube out of his nose, and the nurse needed to reinsert it. She did. She puffed a little air into it, heard a gurgle in his belly and fed him.
Unfortunately, the gurgle wasn't from the tube, because the tube hadn't reached the stomach. Instead, it had been inserted into a lung. I don't know how much milk was poured into his lung, and I don't think I want to know.
Apparently the mistake was not immediately detected. That's when Dr. Cho saw him, heard his muted crying and thought maybe a vocal cord was damaged (from a surgery Dylan had when he was just days old).
Dylan's been returned to a heater in the room where he started. Andrea was at the hospital and talked with the nurse, who has more than 10 years of NICU experience. She felt really really horrible. But Andrea and I don't feel it's her fault. She followed the same procedure that she had performed successfully for years.
And besides, if Dylan would stop yanking on his damn tubes he would have been fine.
He is fine. His current nurse said he's been sleeping sound for several hours now. He'll be ok.
But Friday is his due date, and he won't be coming home.
The past month hasn't been full of progress. Although he's now four times larger than his birth weight, he hasn't increased the number of times he nurses each day. It's been stuck at three, with the other five going through a tube (now threaded through his nose).
Dr. Cho had called around 4:30 to discuss this. Reflux, regurgitate, more tests, possible vocal cord damage, blah blah blah.
(Wait a minute, back up. Vocal cord damage? Has he not heard this kid scream? More on that later.)
About an hour later, he calls again. Dylan had ripped the feeding tube out of his nose, and the nurse needed to reinsert it. She did. She puffed a little air into it, heard a gurgle in his belly and fed him.
Unfortunately, the gurgle wasn't from the tube, because the tube hadn't reached the stomach. Instead, it had been inserted into a lung. I don't know how much milk was poured into his lung, and I don't think I want to know.
Apparently the mistake was not immediately detected. That's when Dr. Cho saw him, heard his muted crying and thought maybe a vocal cord was damaged (from a surgery Dylan had when he was just days old).
Dylan's been returned to a heater in the room where he started. Andrea was at the hospital and talked with the nurse, who has more than 10 years of NICU experience. She felt really really horrible. But Andrea and I don't feel it's her fault. She followed the same procedure that she had performed successfully for years.
And besides, if Dylan would stop yanking on his damn tubes he would have been fine.
He is fine. His current nurse said he's been sleeping sound for several hours now. He'll be ok.
But Friday is his due date, and he won't be coming home.
1 Comments:
He's a fighter that kid and I hope he's home for Christmas with his family.
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