05/23/2007

So, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day, and she said she had been avoiding talking to me because she just didn't know what to say to someone who had a critically ill baby. I thought about this, and if any of you are feeling this way also I think "Hi" would be a good start. "How are you" seems logical, and then "would you like some of my chili cheese fries" seems to be the most natural progression afer that. Do you want the good news or the bad news? I'll start with the bad. Emery is going to require open sugery for his kidney stone, he will need to be intubated, and he will need to be put back on the vent. It is a major setback for him. Not a weenie one, like the nitric thing, this one is a doozie. Erik and I both talked to the urologist today and he said he has never done this type of surgery before on a baby. He said he has operated on baby's kidneys before, but never a baby with the severity of lung disease that Emery has or an open surgery to remove a kidney stone. He said the kidney stone is large enough that even an adult couldn't pass it. I kept saying how much I missed everyone over in bay 1, and it looks like we're going back there for a bit. Emery could have surgery as early as Friday. We unfortunately will not know quite yet because the surgeon said his schedule is booked for months. We did ask if we were going in the medical books because of this, and he looked at us like we were nuts. I forget sometimes that the 'other docs' don't know that Erik and I just can't seem to be serious and appropriate when necessary. The neos are used to us. Needless to say, Erik and I are a bit bummed about Emery going back on the vent. We did ask the doc about putting in a trach, if it was necessary, and if we could just do it all at once.. sort of like when you take your car in to get new tires and throw on new brakes at the same time because, hey, you're in there, you may as well do it all at once. He said that for Emery right now with his stability a trach is too big of a comittment. The good news. Emery's ROP has regressed to zone 3. He will not have an eye exam for 2 months. Erik watched the exam and it upset him a great deal. It's nasty to watch, but no eye surgery for Emery!! It seems like it is possible that Emery may have some type of metabolic disorder that would lead to his kidney stone, but they will analyze the stone after it comes out. Erik wanted to see it. The surgeon didn't think that was funny either. Please keep Emery in your prayers. The surgeon was confident that he could perform the surgery well. The biggest concern is, as always, the lungs. Please pray for the surgeon, the staff, for Emery, and for his precious lungs. I'll let you know about the surgery as soon as we know. Of course, I forgot to ask the surgeon about what he meant by the patient being very ill, but the neo did say that it was from a respiratory standpoint. Today he was saturating great and only needing about 45% to 47% oxygen. He's up really high on his oxygen right now, though, but we think it's just because of the eye exam. Plus, he seems to be more uncomfortable from the kidney stone. The doctor also was talking about going down on Emery's pressure by 1 cm of water yesterday but changed his mind, and the nitric is going to surgery with him.