Rounds
Back at the NICU after staying away for a couple days because of my cold.
Little Bean's blood sugar was higher last night, from the mid-250s up to 400s. We were here for rounds this morning as they discussed what to do about this. One of the doctors pointed out that the insulin he's getting every 6 hours will be completely gone from his body by 4 hours. Typically it's not recommended to give it more often than six but Dr. Z, the fellow said she would watch him closely today and possibly order insulin every 4h. For now they just increased his next dose (right now) by 10%.
Dr. C, the neonatologist, added that they'd be presenting his case at a meeting of doctors and professors from the university at 3 this afternoon to see if anyone has any useful suggestions. After that Dr. Z has another meeting at 4, but we should be able to grab her in the evening to see if anything came from that.
I have to say that, having seen the rounds process, where the fellow and nurse consulted their three-ring binders frequently, I'm a little surprised at how low-tech a lot of the NICU is. The vital signs monitors are electronic but everything else is just a paper record. While the doctors were trying to correlate insulin times with blood sugar readings and feeding times in their heads I couldn't believe there wasn't a way to just chart those numbers on a graph on the station's computer. It would be trivial if these records were digital but apparently they are not. To someone in my line of work that's a little scandalous. Not to mention that there's just that much more of a factor for human error that could be avoided with modern tools.
We did speak with Dr. Z that evening, but Bean's case was a new one to all the students, doctors, and professors there. No one had any particular new insight on treatment, but glyburide (a sulfonylurea drug) was discussed as a possible therapy.
I was greatly pleased with the lines coming out of Bean. I took it as a positive sign that Bean was getting stronger and more stable.
Cyborg Baby No More
They lost the artery line this morning and decided against replacing it. For testing glucose, they are now using heel sticks. The IV in his hand is gone as well. This afternoon they took out the needle in his scalp. So Bean only has some monitors and oxygen on. Hooray!
I debated with myself on whether or not to post pictures in the interest of blogger anonymity. For obvious reasons we prefer some privacy for our family. But I really felt that we needed faces connected with our story, so here goes:
Bean with his Daddy.
(Taken Monday morning)
Me Cradling Bean
We enjoyed chatting with Bean's nurses during slow times. Most of them were absolutely fantastic and had interesting life stories to boot. We are so very grateful for the competent and compassionate care they provided.
Jay recorded one such conversation:
What happens when you don't fill your days with make-work
Fay started a conversation with Bean's nurse for the day about her son. We ended up talking about the fantasy novels he (and she) likes. She pointed me at one in particular, whose author blurb on Amazon reads, "Christopher Paolini’s abiding love of fantasy and science fiction inspired him to begin writing his debut novel, Eragon, when he graduated from high school at 15."
"I bet he was home schooled," I told Fay.
"Actually, you're right," said the nurse.
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