Replogle Tube Be Gone!

When I came into the NICU shortly after noon, Joyce told me that Henry was feeling better today. Henry took out his replogle tube and nose prongs from his cannula out this morning. He's back to his fiesty self. The replogle tube is a large tube put down the throat that sucks air and goop out of the stomach. It was put down his throat when they stopped feeds because they didn't want any more food or air to enter his intestinal track. He couldn't close his mouth fully with this tube down his throat.

Luckily, Joyce was given the OK to remove the replogle tube, so Henry is more comfortable now. Also, Henry's oxygen level was down to 28%. This was good news because yesterday, I believe it was as high as 70%. Room air is 21%.

Joyce let me know that the surgeons stopped by this morning. His stomach felt nice and soft. Hopefully, we'll avoid surgery. Henry was supposed to have a head ultrasound yesterday, so Joyce checked on that.

Joyce and I changed his diaper. He managed to get his bed wet. Unfortunately, his diapers don't fit that well. So out with the old bedding, in with the new.

Henry and I did around two and a half hours of kangaroo care. Dr. Cahan stopped by while I was holding Henry. The morning x-ray looked slightly better than before. There are still some problems in the intestines, but Henry is moving in the right direction. She still wants Henry to have his brain checked via ultrasound. She really doesn't think that there is much to get excited about, but they want to keep track of it...just in case. She has put Henry back on Lasix. He wasn't urinating enough without it. I have been concerned about Lasix because it is known to cause kidney stones. She is less worried about that than the effects of Lasix taking calcium from the system which should be going to bone development. If all goes well, she'll eventually get him off the Lasix and back to the diuryl (sp?). I thanked her for answering my barrage of questions yesterday. She said it was no problem. Jeff refers to me as The Polish Inquisition, due to my constant stream of questions.

Dr. Cahan is going out of the country next week to India. She'll be there for two weeks. So we'll have a new set of doctors starting Friday. Holly told me yesterday that both she and Joyce will be going on vacation soon too. I happy for them, but rather disappointed for us because Henry had a great team going during this scary NEC incident.

When Joyce left at 3PM, Kathy Coin (a different Kathy from the nurse who often takes care of him) was his nurse for two hours. My mom showed up right before we put him back to bed. Kathy helped me get Henry back into his isolette after the kangaroo session. She put him in his isolette on his tummy. He likes that best. I learned how to change his diaper while he was on his stomach. It's quite a bit more difficult than when he's on his back.

Around 5PM, Cindy became his nurse. Cindy has had Henry before. I believe that she was his nurse a couple of times during the first two weeks of his NICU stay. She's been a nurse for 27 years. At one point, someone at the far end of the pod turned on the bright fluorescent lights, which may have irritated Henry's eyes because he looked upset. Luckily, one of the nurses on our end told them to turn down the lights right away. At one point, Henry was howling. I don't know what made him mad. Cindy managed to calm him down quickly by massaging his left temple.

That's all to report for now.