3/17/09

I am still in Bremerton, will be going back Wednesday evening. My rash was diagnosed as contact dermatitis (non-infectious). I was prescribed prednisone and Claritin. I was nervous about taking them since Abraham is fed breast milk however the rash got unbearable (interferes with sleep and very red/itchy). So I had to weigh the benefit verses risk. If the neonatal doctors and lactation consultant don’t want him to have the breast milk I do have a supply for him so I could always use this for plants or just dump it. I called his nurse for an update. She has been with him for the past 3 days; however she was out on two transports to pick up some other babies today so another nurse “babysat” him during that time. She plans to turn the music CD on for him to see how he does. His ventilator settings were lowered (good thing), he pooped twice last night and neurosurgery has signed off at this point. This means that he is not showing evidence of needing a shunt. Yeah, prayer is working. Thank you all and most importantly, THANK GOD. There is still potential that he will need a permanent shunt. The goals at this point are to wean from the ventilator and breast feed like a normal baby. This probably won’t happen over night though; More likely to occur in a month or longer. His gallbladder and one kidney are enlarged. We are not sure why and if he will outgrow this or not. He is still requiring medication for hypothyroidism and it‘s not clear if he will always need this or if this is related to being a preemie. He has an eye examination tomorrow which looks very painful to Glenn. Please pray that he does well with this and does show any evidence of blindness. Preemies are at risk for blindness especially when they require high oxygen concentrations. I will work updating some pictures.