06/08/2007

Postop day #1: Fever. My little love has a fever; however, he's on Vancomycin, ampicillin and gentamicin, which is broad-spectrum coverage and they have drawn urine cultures and blood cultures. There is some redness around his incision site. The surgeon hasn't come in yet to look at him. I finally met the elusive Dr. K. He seemed a little irritated by my questions, but the one thing I can say is that no one is hovering around Emery's bed, his vent settings are going down, he's not requring a lot of oxygen, and it's pretty silent here. I know what signs to look at if they worry and there isn't a sign of any of that yet. I'm sort of unimpressed with the elusive Dr. K. I fully expected him to be wearing a cape and spouting off decisons from this freaky high tower that they keep him up in with his secret lab and brilliant ideas. Turns out, he's just a nonsocial doctor. Everyone over here today was smiling and remarking how great Emery looked, how big he is (11 pounds now), and that BPD babies usually have a hard time growing but Em is growing well. He's just not maturing, but I met another NICU mommy upstairs just now, and she was talking to me about her frustrations with her baby, with the staff, and how she kept bugging the nurses and doctors every day, even if she just saw them in the hall, and I had met another mom a few weeks ago who did the same thing so I realized .... I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE!!! However, she said something so profound it stopped me in my tracks. She said "they keep pushing my baby too hard and too fast. When he comes home, I want him well enough to live." *sigh* We're on day of life 173, nearly 6 months in the NICU. I have to wait for him to be well enough to come home. I really don't like seeing him back on the vent either and with all of the tubes and lines in him. He's got a Penrose drain coming out of his side and two IVs as well as the ET tube again. I feel so bad for the little guy. Em's vital signs all look great, we just need to get the fever to break. Keep him in your prayers. Oh, postop infections are common but suck nontheless.