Witten's Milestones Week 6

Witten has been through a lot the last few days. He was looking pretty bad and feeling pretty bad, so on Saturday, they stopped his feedings and started new meds through his IV. He is also receiving nutrients through there. They have decided that he won't eat until next Saturday, 7 days off the food, because he has a mild form of Nec which is when part of his intestines start to die.

He is looking MUCH better, but his diagnosis continues to change. His stomach was very distended due to all of the bubbles from the Cpap, and he was unable to get rid of all of the air. His color was really pale, and he kept having apnea episodes. His skin seemed really thin, and you could see his veins through it in his tummy. Now his tummy is normal size, his color is perfect, and with all of the antibiotics (and the tube sucking stuff out of his stomach), his breathing is much better and today they actually moved him back to the nasal cannula because the Cpap was causing more harm than good since it irritated him so much. On the cannula, he has been breathing perfectly.

Today they called in the infectious disease specialist at Cooks, and he said that Witten has a weird strain of infection that's not typically seen in babies, and they are having to test a drug on him because not much works on this. It's three initials that start with a V for you medical people that read this blog. He has also been condemned to isolation for the remainder of his stay which I am not at all upset about. I've been eyeing those private rooms for 6 weeks, so I guess there's one silver lining to all of this.

It's really hard to keep a positive attitude with all of these set backs. I just keep seeing his discharge date move farther and farther away from us instead of getting closer. I know he'll be home someday, and it won't be as far off as it feels, but I'm starting to tire out.

I have taught myself to pump while I'm driving, so that actually clears up a lot of my day. I plan my errands around my pumping schedule, and since I can pump in the car, I can be out for about 2 more hours than I was before. A typical day with errands would be to pump on my way to the first place I need to go, and home from the last. Then I pump on the way to and from the hospital. On Sundays, Mitch drives, but I pump on the way to church, lunch, the hospital, and home. I feel much more accomplished now.