All clean and bright-eyed for the camera!
Getting all clean in his first bath with Mom and Dad!
Gabe in his new fancy crib!
Sorry it has been so long since the last update.
We were trying to get him weaned from the CPAP. He was 6 hrs on CPAP, 6 hrs. on high-flow cannula for a couple of weeks. Then last week it seemed like he was ready to alternate 8 hrs. on high-flow, and only 4 hours on CPAP. Well, it didn't last long before his CO2 levels skyrocketed and he had to go on CPAP full time. Unfortunately. It has been a hard road since then. He hasn't been able to come off the CPAP since. When they try high-flow for even a short time, his CO2 goes into the 90s.
Our amazing doctor this week was considering steriods, but she wanted to get a cardio echo to make sure nothing was wrong with his heart. The cardiologist found that he has pulmonary hypertension which is when the heart is stressed and it constricts the heart. He has this because of his chronic lung disease, but this prevents his lungs from getting better. They work against each other. Therefore, they put him on nitric oxide (not laughing gas) that is supposed to relax and open up his heart.
Then they thought he had an infection yesterday because he was really pale and higher CO2s. This turned out to not be the case.
NOW! they are starting him on a high doseage of hydrocortizone for almost 2 weeks to try to get these lungs better. The doctor wanted to stay away from the steriod they used to get off of the ventilator because it has some neurological side effects, especially in the brain. So we are not expecting results right away like we saw before.
PLEASE PRAY FOR THESE TO WORK WITH NO SIDE EFFECTS!!!
