04/05/2007

Well, the day has come. No, Emery, is not back on the vent... yet..... Today marks his last dose of steroids. He's on a very very miniscule dose, but Emery responds very well to the steroids because of the swelling in his lungs, so yes I am nervous. They also increased his feeds today, too, which seemed odd to discontinue the steroids and increase his fluid intake, but again, I'm not a doctor. He is getting 3 puffs, twice a day of the Flovent now, so we'll see how he does. He typically has a rebound 72 hours after steroids, so we'll see how he fairs through the weekend. I am keeping my fingers crossed. He now has nitric oxide on board and the inhaled steroids as well as the Flovent, so maybe this time will be different. It's also time to see if Emery can do this or not. I mean, he can't stay on the steroids forever. That's almost more detrimental to him than being on the vent. The poor nurse from the last few nights who put his tube down too far was so apologetic this morning I felt bad for her. She kept saying, "I didn't want to be the one to give you bad news." They are pulling for Emery, too. When we were there Tuesday walking around the unit, all of the nurses and clerks were all saying "Go Emery! Still off the vent!" He's got his own peronal cheerleaders. Little flirt. So, I got a copy of Emery's total NICU stay, doctor's charges, medications, critical care nursery, chest x-rays... blah blah, the grand total through 03/28/2007 is $512,127.51...... YIKES! Thank God for private insurance. Looks like we'll have to skip over to Iowa extremely soon as I believe Emery will max out his lifetime insurance coverage before he goes. He's totally worth every single solitary penny, and then some. You know, it strikes me as funny. His lungs are literally worth about $100,000 with the surfactant and nitric oxide, so you would think that $100,000 lungs would kick a**... instead, he's a limp-lunged wimpy white boy. I can't wait until Emery gets a girlfriend so I can show this to her. I should have taken pictures of his shrinkage after he diuresed all of the fluid, but in today's day and age that probably wouldn't fly. Well, that's all for Emery. Now we mark the countdown off steroids. I know I always ask for prayers, and you were all so good to pray when I sent out the email before we went to Iowa City for his extubation, but please keep him in your prayers. This is the time of year for new life and new hope. I'm not surprised that this has come about at this time. Love, Sarah, Erik and Emery