Fluids

We learn quite a bit about patience in this process. There was no real medical progress to report during our visit today. The flow of the ECMO remained the same and Peter was doing well generally. Yet the doctor remains unhappy with the fluids visible on his lungs in repeated X-rays. When I spoke to Dr. Overman today he suggested they may put in a tube into the area to drain these fluids, but he did not sound convinced of this solution and so they have been putting this decision off. In the meantime, he has put Peter on yet another diuretic drip and increased his urine flow. The ECMO nurse said that we should not expect any change in the ECMO treatment until Peter’s fluid problem is under control. It seems likely that we will be in this holding pattern for the weekend. One positive piece of news we heard is that the ECMO is providing slightly lower gas levels for Peter's blood and this may mean, according to the ECMO nurse, that the fluid is reducing anyway and that Peter's lungs are taking over some of this function.

Despite this somewhat disappointing news, we had a good time with Peter at the hospital. He was very wakeful and he has been enjoying the mobile that a nurse hung up in his room. Since he was turned the other way today, we had to move the mobile too because when he woke up, he was visibly looking around for it (and could not see it). Once it became visible again, he was mesmerized by it. We do find it a little exciting that they have started to feed Peter his mother's milk through a tube in his nose, though they continue to also feed him intravenously.

We have been blessed with visitors and good gifts today. Two families dropped meals off today and we also saw our friend Kristen and our pastor at the hospital.

Here is a short movie of Peter and Betsy at the hospital today: