So About That Roller Coaster...

Ummmmm.

Remember what I said yesterday about this journey being like The Desperado?

Well, we took a bit of a loop today.

This morning when I arrived at the NICU, Isaac wasn't on the vent again.

He also wasn't on SIPAP like yesterday.

No, he was now in an Oxy Hood.

He now has a pneumothorax (because really PIE, bacterial sepsis and fungal sepsis clearly isn't enough for a 5 week old premature newborn to go through... *rolls eyes*).

Let me explain. 

For those not in the medical field, a pneumothorax essentially means that air has "leaked" out of the lung into the space around the lung.  

Not good.

Luckily it is very, very small. 

But see, the pressure used to help him breathe on the SIPAP machine had, even over just 24 hours, made the pneumo grow slightly.  To prevent the more dangerous complications of having a significant pneumo, he needed not only to be taken off of SIPAP, but needs to be treated with 100% O2.  Leaving him on any device which used pressure to help him breathe would be likely to cause the pneumo to expand to a dangerous level.

Now there are advantages to having him in the Oxy Hood.

In particular, we can see his face again without multiple tubes (he only has a feeding tube now).

The disadvantage?

The high levels of oxygen leave him at more risk of retinopathy.

But his lungs must take priority over his eyes.

So Oxy Hood it is.

He seems quite comfortable in the hood... or "da hood" as I like to think of it :-).

Best case scenario is that the pneumo resolves overnight and they are able to wean him to nasal cannula with oxygen.

Fingers are crossed.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record...

Emery and Parker are doing great.  They have graduated to being "Feeders and Growers"... essentially they are healthy, they just need to learn to feed better and get bigger.

I promise more pictures will be forthcoming...