February 4-Morning rounds

Oliver is still stable and doing great. He has short periods of being quietly awake and really loves looking at Sean's face. I hate to admit it, but he seems to prefer looking at Sean...I think it's the beard-I'm trying my best to grow one too :)

My c-section recovery was supposed to include two weeks of rest. Something that has been difficult to do in this situation. Sean has been pushing me in a wheel chair as often as possible to try to keep me off my feet (thanks love!) The funny thing is, somehow the wheel chair loads him with static electricity and whenever he touches an elevator button or door handle he gets quite a zing! I feel bad for laughing, but sometimes you can even see the arc! It's quite incredible really.

We joined Oliver's medical team for rounds this morning-let's start with platelets. The nurses started taking platelet labs immediately following the transfusion. Yesterday he was at 21,000 after transfusion. When checked again in the afternoon he dropped to 7,000. Had another transfusion last night, bringing him up to 48,000 but when checked again in the wee hours of the morning he was at 5,000. He received another transfusion already this morning and at about 9:00 this morning he was at 22,000.

Last night the lines in his belly button (umbilical lines) that we have been using to feed, give meds and draw blood started to come out a bit. Lines like this usually last about a week or ten days, so this is no surprise and his Dr.'s had already been talking about removing it. There is no dressing for umbilical lines so it poses a risk of infection, and with his clotting factors being so low (platelets) if the lines were to be pulled it would be bad news...so today Oliver gets what's called a PICC line. PICC stands for peripherally inserted central catheter, it will offer long term access to the vein. The PICC nurse is doing the procedure as I write this, then they will look at the line on an ultrasound to make sure it's well placed.

Oliver's liver is still failing, and we still don't know why. We met the liver specialist yesterday and he is waiting for test results to continue ruling things out...they are looking at infectious and biochemical reasons for Oliver's condition. The hematologist and a bio-chemical genetics specialist will be joining the list of people coming to see Oliver today. He is very popular around here.

I know all of this sounds scary...and it is...but some things sound so much worse than they are. If there is anything you are wondering about please feel free to ask :)

Through all of this Oliver has not shown signs of pain at all! Something we are so thankful for. This hospital is really designed well to support families like ours and we are feeling incredibly blessed that Oliver is here, receiving the best care possible!

Oliver snuggling the heat pack on his wrist in preparation for his new PICC line.