Zerbey's Journal: Baby Update: 11/24/2002

Our little boy slept through the entire 6 hours we where visiting today. He apparently had a very busy morning though, managing to drink to full bottles of formula - that's a huge step forward. He woke up very briefly when the Doctor examined him and then fell back to sleep.

On Friday afternoon he had a stress test, basically the regular examination all newborns get to test his hearing, reflexes etc. - because he is a preemie the examination was a little more involved. Thomas was not impressed by all the prodding and poking and so was not very cooperative, I must admit I didn't care for the nurse examining him either. However, he passed the tests OK.

Thomas had another tube removed Saturday, the one measuring his blood-oxygen level. It is supposed to be close to 100% and has remained there ever since he was put on medication so the doctors do not feel it is necessary to measure it anymore.

We had a long conversation with Dr Burzynski (I think I spelled that right!) his cardiologist today. He is very confident that Thomas will make a full recovery but it will take time. In his opinion whatever caused Thomas's heart problems was a very large infection or trauma during birth. We will likely never know what the real cause was, however.

I have been remiss in not mentioning who is caring for my son, these people are all highly recommended if you are ever in the same situation:

Dr Bayouth - Gynecologist
Dr Lipman - Pediatric Specialist
Dr Burzynski - Cardiologist

Plus a bunch of very talented nurses and support staff at Arnold Palmer NICU.