The Plan

Well, they were awaiting for Cameron's arterial blood cultures to come back before they decided anything for sure on what to do for Cameron's staph infection. It has come back positive and here is the current plan I believe. They have decided to pull out Cameron's central picc line - this is in case the staph bacteria has decided to bond to the actual line that is in her blood stream. After the picc line is removed they will then take the blood cultures again to see if pulling the line out has helped. Also, they are feeding her and as long as she handles the food they are going to keep increasing her food to hopefully get her up to full feeds as soon as possible so that she will hopefully not need another central picc line. They are hoping to only have to give her what she needs through a peripheral IV for medications and any supplemental nutrition that she needs. If her blood pressure goes down again then they will use a different medication that they can continue to feed her with in hopes that they can get her feeds up as much as possible. This is a relatively common infection for babies to get (though still very serious as is any infection for a preemie) that luckily does not have the long term consequences that others seem to have had. She is not bradying or desating right now so she seems to be improving and is getting ready for her first feeding since coming off the dopamine yesterday. I am excited about the possibility for Cameron to get off the TPN because it is not great for her liver for her to be on it for so long. I pray that it will not have long term consequences for her.

Reagan is having her food increased again to its previous amount but they are not adding the extra protein to her milk since she did not tolerate it well. They are also increasing the diuretic (lasix) to dry out her lungs and in hopes to get her off of the nasal cannula. Reagan had gained an ounce 2 days ago and now has lost it (she pooped it all out!) again. One of Cameron's primaries came in and looked in on Reagan and told Cameron's nurse today that Reagan looks huge compared to Cameron - interestingly enough they are close to the same in weight and since I have not been there in over a week I cannot wait to see for myself.

I pray that Reagan will continue to handle the food well and that she will begin to gain weight consistently. Reagan's nurse last night said that eventually their bodies will get the point and understand that they are supposed to gain weight not fight it. I also pray that removing the picc line will be the step that needs to be taken to allow the vancomycin to do its job and that this infection will be eradicated from her little body. I also pray that her body would cooperate with this new plan that the doctors have and that she would handle the food well so that she will not have to continue to be on the TPN or need to have a central picc line. Oh my, this is certainly hard to not be in the NICU with all of this going on. My wonderful and wise husband has continually reminded me that God knew that we would not be able to be in the NICU last week and this week and He is in control of what is going on. Reagan and Cameron are (thankfully) not the first 25 weekers to be at Duke nor are they the first to deal with these issues and for that I am eternally thankful. I know that I have to just continually lift them up to God and know that He has them in His hands and will watch over them. I keep looking back at Cameron's picture and think to myself - my how she has changed since she was born! That was at five weeks old - do they look different now that they are 6 weeks old today? I am sure that to the rest of the world the changes are minimal but to a mother who has studied their faces, their bodies, their feet, their hands - the difference is amazing! I am so thankful for the growth that they have made and look forward to more that it to come!