Day 9--No more meds!

During rounds this morning the doctors and nearly-doctors decided that Dexter doesn't need his Hydrocortisone anymore. They started it last Thursday after finding that his cortisol levels were low. That's a hormone that helps regulate blood pressure. Today, they said they weren't convinced that he needs it, so they took him off of it. That means that the only thing he's still getting through an IV is some nutrition (TPN)--the pre-digested lipids, sugars, and amino acids. But he's going down on that as he's going up on his feeds, so they said in just a couple days, he'll be off of the TPN. Then he'll really be free.

He just has to master eating. Today Dexter got to work with both a physical therapist and a speech pathologist at his 9:30 and 12:30 feedings. They determined that he's really not getting the sucking thing, so they're backing off even more. For the next 2 days or so, he'll just get his milk through his NG tube, prior to which they'll do "oral stim" to help his mouth learn to suck. And then they'll try him on thickened breastmilk to slow down its flow and hopefully prevent him from startling so much at the milk when it hits his throat. Our sweet little guy just seems to need extra time to learn skills I had taken for granted.

Dexter also had his follow-up EEG this morning, giving the neurologist a chance to see Dexter's brain without all the sedating meds he was on before. I'm interested to hear her interpretation today or tomorrow. We'll keep you posted. Thanks for all of your prayers in our behalf--we need them!