Cohen’s primary care doctor made rounds this evening and she was pleasantly surprised at how alert and interactive he was. After a thorough head to toe check, she discovered that, in addition to the virus he has and pneumonia, he has strep throat as well. This doesn’t change much, as the treatment for strep throat is antibiotics…and well, Cohen has had quite a few different ones over the last few days. All it does is gives us a pretty good indication as to why he is not interested in eating or drinking. He is taking in some liquids, so that is keeping him out of IV territory for now.
His lungs are still “crackly” to his doctor, despite what the respiratory therapist says. Even so, the doctor gave the go ahead to take Cohen off oxygen completely and see how he does. This made me a little nervous, because Cohen is not hooked up to any monitors…so a drop in his sats would go undetected until the nurse comes and checks on him. (Which hasn’t been so timely today) I was assured that they will come every two hours, and it looks like they are sticking to that promise. For the first 2 hours he maintained a 95-96 level, which is awesome! Before they take the cannula off of his face, however, they need to be sure that nothing changes when he is asleep or off oxygen a little bit longer. At the 4 hour mark, his levels decreased to 90-92, which is the lowest end of “technically okay” but probably not adequate enough to go home due to his preemie baby lungs. By the 6 hour mark, his sats dropped again and are now hovering around 89-90. Because he is not in respiratory distress, the oxygen has not yet been turned on. The every two hour checks will continue through the night, and if it looks like his levels are staying where they are or are decreasing, he will start back on oxygen. He continues to receive albuterol breathing treatments three times a day, and he seems much more comfortable after each one.
Overall, in order to be discharged, Cohen must (1) be eating and drinking well, (2) be completely off oxygen with stable saturation levels, and (3) have a chest x-ray that shows marked improvement. Right after the doctor left, I was fairly certain we would be going home tomorrow. However, with his saturation levels where they are at my guess would be he is here for one more night just to be safe. Regardless of how not fun having him in the hospital is, we would much rather him come home healthy and not too soon.
Tomorrow’s events should give some guidance on what happens next. But for right now, Cohen is sleeping (somewhat) peacefully.
His lungs are still “crackly” to his doctor, despite what the respiratory therapist says. Even so, the doctor gave the go ahead to take Cohen off oxygen completely and see how he does. This made me a little nervous, because Cohen is not hooked up to any monitors…so a drop in his sats would go undetected until the nurse comes and checks on him. (Which hasn’t been so timely today) I was assured that they will come every two hours, and it looks like they are sticking to that promise. For the first 2 hours he maintained a 95-96 level, which is awesome! Before they take the cannula off of his face, however, they need to be sure that nothing changes when he is asleep or off oxygen a little bit longer. At the 4 hour mark, his levels decreased to 90-92, which is the lowest end of “technically okay” but probably not adequate enough to go home due to his preemie baby lungs. By the 6 hour mark, his sats dropped again and are now hovering around 89-90. Because he is not in respiratory distress, the oxygen has not yet been turned on. The every two hour checks will continue through the night, and if it looks like his levels are staying where they are or are decreasing, he will start back on oxygen. He continues to receive albuterol breathing treatments three times a day, and he seems much more comfortable after each one.
Overall, in order to be discharged, Cohen must (1) be eating and drinking well, (2) be completely off oxygen with stable saturation levels, and (3) have a chest x-ray that shows marked improvement. Right after the doctor left, I was fairly certain we would be going home tomorrow. However, with his saturation levels where they are at my guess would be he is here for one more night just to be safe. Regardless of how not fun having him in the hospital is, we would much rather him come home healthy and not too soon.
Tomorrow’s events should give some guidance on what happens next. But for right now, Cohen is sleeping (somewhat) peacefully.
Hey... Just noticed you updated! Sorry your little guy is sick. My 4 month old niece is also in the hospital very sick and on oxygen, her O2 Sat was 70 when she was admitted Monday afternoon. This bad time for these little ones to be sick! I'll be praying
ReplyDeleteHang in there! Sounds like the times he is awake are for the most part bright and cheery hopefully those will get longer and longer! And then he'll be able to have a BIG birthday party! Happy Birthday Big Guy!
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