Monday, November 5, 2007

Getting better

Brandon's latest room - he's been moved a lot.


Yes. I know what all of it does.


This was taken a couple of days ago. He was even more swollen at one point than this. Notice his new scar on his left side. This is where they removed the air. It's small and should heal well.

Until today, we haven't been able to hold him for three weeks.

This is Derek visiting in the hospital on Halloween. He wore a costume to the hospital several times, even before Halloween.

Notice the Batman costume that Derek and Blake made for Brandon. We just laid it on him.

vThe boys on Halloween night.



A moment without a nasal canula. We replaced it soon after. The doctors are hopeful that, over time, her lip will completely heal.

Wating in the car.

Getting some energy out on top of the parking structure at the hospital.

View from the top of the parking garage.

Katelyn from above.

The last couple of weeks have been really hard. Brandon has been very sick and recovering slowly from the surgery. The actual surgery seemed to go well but he got an infection and it really affected him. His lungs have also had a lot of problems. Because he has been on a ventilator for so long they are pretty damaged and he is feeling the effects.

Today he is doing much better. Amy was able to hold him for the first time since his operation. A couple of days ago they switched him to a different ventilator and he really seems to be doing better. He still has moments when his oxygen needs jump up but in general they have drastically improved. His eye exam last week was great. The doctor said that he has fully healed and the operation was a 100% success. I don’t have a picture of him today but his swelling has gone down a lot in the last couple of days. We are also once again really excited about pee and poo. Brandon has been doing both well. They have begun feeding him (through a tube) again and he seems to like it.

We will have to be cautious not to go too fast because his bowls may need time to adjust. This is particularly true because the two pieces that were re-connected where very different sizes.

Over the last week we have a lot of scary moments. At one point they thought that they had found a second air pocket outside of his lungs. They also had a positive test for a yeast infection in his blood. This would have been a very big deal because it would have been very be hard to fight and could spread all over. However, the microbiologist that was working on his culture noticed that a second baby had tested positive for the same thing on the same day. She wasn’t confident that he actually had the infection. She was worried that he had been through so much and that this would prompt all kinds of other tests. Because of this, she through out the tests and started over. So far it has all been negative. Even more importantly Brandon seems to be improving.

We still want Brandon to loose weight because he has been so bloated. As of yesterday he weighed 3270 grams (7lbs. 3oz.). He’s bigger than his sister but the hard part is knowing how big he really is under all of the excess fluid.

We are constantly reminded that despite all of the challenges that Brandon has had, he continues to fight through all of it. I’m confident that the prayers of friends, family and even strangers have played a big part. One of the nurse practitioners had a special request. She asked if we would say a couple of prayers to help her know how to best treat Brandon.

Katelyn is doing well. I would hope that she would grow faster but she has been healthy. The biggest problem she has is that she doesn’t like to lay in her crib. She likes to be held. She seems to have a tough time lying flat after she has eaten but I also think this has turned into being very spoiled. She will sleep great in our arms but through a fit if we put her down. This is making for some very long nights. She is also getting a little fussy and not wanting to take her bottle. I’ll have to be more vigilant and make sure we can continue to give her a bottle.

She is still on a low amount of oxygen and also on a monitor. However, she loves to ride in the car and she does well on trips to the hospital. We have been told not to take her into public places, or have many visitors to our home for six months. Because of this we often take her in the car when we go see Brandon. We leave her in the car and take turns visiting Brandon.

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