Taking breaths; overall status

(Original appeared April 15, 2016)

Over the last two days or so, Jacob has been trying to breathe on his own but hasn’t been able to quite get there. Yesterday, he seemed to be “fighting” the ventilator more often. If the “fight” persisted, it could cause stress and possible lung damage. So he’s taken a step forward and they’ve placed him on a new machine called a Neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA), which is a “mode of ventilation controlled by the electrical activity of the diaphragm”. That’s a fancy way of saying that a new tube/sensor is placed down his throat which rests gently on his diaphragm. When it senses a contraction (meaning, J is trying to take a breath) it kicks in just slightly to help him out, giving him a slight boost. If it does not sense a contraction/breath for a period of time (called apnea), then it breaths for him. We now watch in awe and are thankful for each and every breath he takes (cue The Police). An interesting possible side effect is that his heart rate has dropped a bit. Perhaps he is less stressed now.
His overall status seems to be continuing to do well. The heart murmur was not noticeable this morning, suggesting that the meds are working to seal up the PDA (the “hole” in his heart). We will still stick with the Monday echocardiogram to see what’s going on with that. We would love to have that healed and have one less thing off his plate.
I am VERY thankful that I’m able to spend the day today with Deb in NICU with Jacob. It’s nice to know that my homies have the crib covered. We’re now waiting for the team to arrive for the imaging of his head. I’ll report as soon as we hear the results. If they go well, the nurse will be able to at least re-position him onto his side which will be a nice relief for him to get off his back.
Finally, I’ve included the latest photo, complete with blue stocking cap (recall: prior Fat Albert entry). I asked him to pose for ya’ll but he just said “Aww, dad, stop” and threw up his arm.