I don’t know what to make of today. Every time a new shift starts and a new doctor comes in to check on Brendan, we get a different story. I know they are all going to have it out with their different opinions tomorrow and decide what the approach will be. But even then, the nurse tells us to expect constant changes in the plan depending on how he reacts each day.
We have heard that there are rumblings about surgery on Wednesday. We have heard that they could possibly extubate him to see how he does without the ventilator. One doctor said he may not need the surgery at all. I know that there are lots of unknowns and that he is going to receive the care that he needs. There are excellent doctors and staff taking care of him and he has been stable and comfortable while he waits.
What is certain right now, they set his ventilator to very minimal settings, so all day today, Brendan has been breathing on his own. In a few cases of forgetting to breathe, the machine kicked in and did it for him. He did very well though.
They turned off the Milrinone this afternoon. How his stats change when that medicine is out of his system will give them more info about how things are working. They upped his feedings to 10cc and plan to continue increasing as he can tolerate it. He is back up several ounces in weight and is looking much better to me. They did start him back on the Lasix, and will watch closely to see how he reacts this time. His lungs do require frequent suctioning.
I am very glad I have been writing all of this down, we have been asked about what and when things were done and have been able to pull up the blog on our phones faster than they could go search in the charts. We are doing everything we can to keep up with the daily changes to stay informed!

Trevor had another good day. He got fed a bit late this morning and was able to take 60cc (about 2oz) from his bottle. They have moved him to larger amounts at every 4hrs instead of every 3hrs. When he is more hungry and rested, he does better with the eating. This afternoon, he took 30cc from the bottle with me feeding him, and got the rest in the tube. I just like to see him make such progress daily.
He is a poop making machine, and even though he is still just a tad jaundiced, they expect that all the pooping will fix that right up soon.

Pictures!!

Brendan’s bedhead hair looked too cute in the sunlight

Brendan’s doggie friend is very useful for holding up the ventilator tubes, and laying the beanie baby in next to him is a great size reference!

Trevor tries to give himself bunny ears for the picture since his brother isn’t around to do it.

This is Trevor waking up from his nap, feeling hungry.