Good News!

Greetings from NIMS 8. I decided to bring the computer over so I could write the update while Lauren nurses Lewis. I don't have a whole lot to do while all that is going on so I figured this would be a good way to spend my time. Plus, maybe we can actually get to bed at a decent hour tonight.

Lewis was pretty sleepy last night and slept for 6 hours. Now Lauren and I thought that was a good thing - apparently not. The doctors thought that since he was "acting different" that he may have an infection. They drew some labs which both came back fine.

They also noticed that his growth curve really wasn't a curve. It was more of a horizontal line. He's maintaining his weight pretty good, just not gaining anything. They think he's just not getting enough food throughout the day. He had been on an on demand feeding schedule - eating what he wants when he wants. He ended up usually going 4 hours between feedings - so only eating 6 times a day. We've put him back on a scheduled feeding every 3 hours. That will give him 2 more feedings every day. Hopefully he starts showing some weight gain!

Today the nurses paged Dr. Mann to come by and reevaluate Lewis's back. We were hoping he would also update us on Lewis's possible discharge date. He came by a couple minutes after I got back here from Muskegon. He peeled off Lewis's dressings and decided it looked good enough for the stitches to be removed! So after he did that he explained the spot on Lewis's back. While it's still grayish, it is healing. The grayish is what he called a "natural barrier." There's actually skin underneath that's healing just fine!

After he was finished looking at Lewis he ordered a new type of dressing to go in his back - something called Vigilon. Its basically a gel sandwiched between two pieces of film. One layer of film will be removed so that the gel goes directly on his back. It's supposed to keep the healing area moist.

Then it was time for his update on Lewis's discharge. Probably the best thing I've heard in a long time - Thursday! He said that with this new dressing theres no reason that he cannot sit in a car seat to get back to Muskegon! So if all goes as planned - we'll be home in 2 days! He'll have to keep the dressings on for a couple more weeks but as long as we are comfortable changing it, they don't have a problem sending him home. Dr. Mann will schedule a follow up appointment for him 2 weeks after his discharge. We're just hoping that after all of this, his lack of weight gain won't keep him here for longer.

Thats about it for today. I'm sure we'll have lots of thing to talk about again tomorrow! Here's some pictures: