Tuesday Afternoon.....

Tuesday, afternoon,
I'm just beginning to see, now I'm on my way.
It doesn't matter to me, chasing the clouds away.
Something, calls to me,
The trees are drawing me near, I've got to find out why?
Those gentle voices I hear, explain it all with a sigh.



So we have gotten a lot done in these past 2 weeks at Dell. Thurston has had a ton of specialists look at him and has had a real swallow study done and an ENT look down his throat as well. The good news is that his vocal chords are normal and not damaged(we were a little concerned as Thurston does not have a strong cry and it is rather raspy at times). Everything looks normal but he does have some irritation where the NJ tube goes down his throat. The bad news is it really seems as if Thurston has some very severe reflux. He is often very uncomfortable and coughs a lot as well as gags and chokes. I had noticed this in early August as well as some projectile vomiting right before Thurston took a turn for the worse. The doctors have tried every medication, a 24 hour feeding schedule, and an NJ tube that bypasses his stomach to his intestines to no avail, he is still coughing and gagging a lot and it is still making him sooooooo uncomfortable and so now the doctors think that having a gtube/nissen fundoplication( a feeding tube that goes directly in his tummy, and a fundo is placed around his esophagus to prevent contents of his stomach coming back up which will prevent aspiration) will help him immensely with reflux and with oral aversions caused by reflux as well as making him oodles more comfortable as we can say goodbye to the NJ tube down his throat. I cannot even imagine having something stuck down my throat 24 hours a day and it does not seem there is an end in sight due to his high oxygen needs,(Thurston most likely will be on oxygen for a while even at home probably for the next year of his life, his chronic lung disease is very severe).
The other hope with the gtube/fundoplication is that it will help reduce Thurston's oxygen needs. The thought is that because of his severe reflux, Thurston is probably micro-aspirating into his lungs. This micro-aspiration for more healthy babies(Viola being one of them as she also had severe reflux when she was a baby) usually does not effect their lungs. But with Thurston, his lungs are just so fragile and delicate, that even the slightest amount can not only cause higher oxygen needs, but like in August, cause a major life threatening event(pneumonia). So the doctors are hoping that within a month or two after this surgery, Thurston's oxygen needs should go down enough and hopefully to a lower flow(2 or 1) and maybe even low enough that he can finally finally come home(1 liter or less). Its just a wait and see but I truly do feel Thurston will at the very least be a lot more comfortable and his coughing episodes will be eradicated and he can just be a happier more well adjusted baby.


So for now the idea of a trach is put on hold, and we will just hope that this will help him avoid that. His surgery is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon and we will most likely be staying at the ronald mcdonald house for a couple of days so we can be close to him while he is recovering. The most nerve wracking part of the surgery is that he will have to go back on the vent and it might take him up to a week to get off of the vent as he will be sedated for a while to alleviate the pain from the surgery. So we have to expect his oxygen needs to go up and that will be hard for me to take after he has been doing pretty well so far hanging out on 6 liters at around 60 percent oxygen(this hospitals nasal cannula goes up to 8 liters which is awesome as he does not need to go back on cpap at all, another reason to love Dell!!!!)I just hope that his recovery will not entail complications and we can move forward with his recovery.

Thurston also got his RSV shot the synagis(a very expensive shot (1000 dollars a pop) to protect him during rsv season. He will get 1 shot a month through April. Wow talk about an expensive kid.

My mommy is leaving on Saturday, unfortunately, as it would have been great for her to be here for his surgery, but we have had so much fun with her here and it has been incredible to get so much help for so long, we are now officially spoiled rotten. Life at Dell is good though and our stress levels have been significantly reduced since moving Thurston here and just to be able to bring Viola with me anytime I want and/or need to has made our lives much much much more simple and much much more beautiful to just be a family. I love how Thurston and her interact with one another, its just plain cute!!!!!

So next week will probably be a little tough, but we will get through it like we always have, one step at a time, one evening at a time, one morning at a time, and one Tuesday afternoon at a time.......