The Honeymoon Comes to an End.

The PDA closed a little more. So it went from unmeasured (but big enough they could hear the murmur easily), to 2 mm (and evidence of improvement via the shrunken aorta/ventricle) ... to 1 mm today. So, they decided they still would not start the next treatment of meds and will continue to watch his vitals. The reason they want to avoid administering the meds again if possible is because the medicine constricts the blood flow from the rest of his organs as well, which is why they stop the feedings, and it makes his digestive system more susceptible to infection. The doctor still caveated the news of the shrinkage by telling us that it still may not close all the way on its own and that it could, in fact, expand again, possibly even to bigger than it was before. But we'll take the 1 mm improvement for now.

He is still up on his respirator. Dr. Lim told us that the honeymoon period is clearly over, and that the way Calder is responding is telling us that he is going to need help breathing for a very long time. She didn't really qualify very long time for us, but reading between the lines it sounded to me like he'll need help the whole time he's in the NICU and may need it once he comes home, too.

He got his PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter), and they took one of the lines (UVC) out of his umbilical cord. They'd said stuff could go through his umbilical cord for only about 1.5 weeks. Inserting the PICC is a delicate procedure because it needs to run so close to the heart. They think he lost more blood than they wanted him to when they made the switch, so he received a blood transfusion tonight.

They also gave him a second dose of the diuretic and will continue to do so. Of course, the doctor we saw tonight told us she is thinking now perhaps that his weight gain may actually be of the "good" variety and not just water weight (so on the way home Kraemer and I mused about why they were still giving him the diuretic -- we don't know.) I think he's currently at 720 or 740 grams.

They did, however, stop feeding him today for a long while because of the PICC insertion and because of the blood transfusion. But they'll resume feeding overnight.