I'm up against the same quandary I face on the three or four occasions each year when I take time to write in my journal, namely, that so much has happened since I last wrote that I'm torn between (1) trying to make a bullet-point list of everything and risk not saying enough about anything to interest anyone and (2) giving all but the most recent past events a miss-in-balk on the grounds that more about something is better than less about everything. In this case, I'm going with Option B, I think. Melissa might well come along and fill in the blanks later.
But before recounting Micah's status as of the moment, I ought to mention Spencer's funeral briefly. We laid our little fellow to rest on Saturday, March 17th. The day was beautiful, and we were buoyed throughout by helping hands from friends and relatives. I'd hate to even start tallying the miles and hours folks spent traveling to be there. I won't describe the services just now, but suffice it to say that they were uplifting. We buried Spencer in the "Babyland" section of the Logan Cemetery.
The cemetery is situated on the grounds of Utah State University, where Melissa and I attended college. We used to take walks through the cemetery on Sunday afternoons. I remember that we'd pause in Babyland every now and then and wonder how parents who had to leave their children there made it through the ordeal. We know now: with lots of help from caring people and a firm faith in our Father's plan of salvation.
Thanks again for your collective support. It's made all of the difference in the world to us.
Micah is--well--hanging in there. He's still got plenty of fight in him, and we're encouraged by the progress he's made over the last few weeks. We're allowing ourselves to be cautiously optimistic about his prospects, I think. Today's big battery o' tests turned out as follows:
CHEST X-RAY
In general, he's doing about as he's been doing for several weeks. Which is to say, his little lungs are pretty sick. But they've not gotten worse lately, and that's good! The doctors are telling us that he's likely to have chronic lung trouble for several years. It's the sort of thing he stands a fair chance of growing out of (in time), but it's going to be an issue for him. He'll probably tire easily when he's active. He'll be more than usually susceptible to colds, RSV, etc. and may suffer from asthma-like symptoms. On the whole, though, he's taking up oxygen into his bloodstream more efficiently and more independently than ever before (which isn't saying much, frankly). He's on a "jet" ventilator, which holds his lungs open with quick pulses of air (200+ per minute), and a standard ventilator, too. He no longer needs the nitric therapy he'd been receiving since Day 2 of his little life, though, and he's been weaned from his Flolan (a breathing / oxygenating-related drug).
HEAD ULTRASOUND
Micah's head has been growing more quickly than the doctors would like to see. Given that they know he has suffered a Grade 4 brain bleed in both hemispheres, they're worried that clotting may block the natural drainage of fluid from the brain down through the spinal corridor, causing swelling. Today's head ultrasound indicated that some fluid is accumulating (his ventricles are expanding in an unhealthy way), but conditions at the moment don't warrant drastic action (e.g. a transfer to Primary Children's Medical Center, next door, and the installation of a drainage shunt).
EYES
Micah's eyes look OK. It seems likely that at least one will work: the docs who looked at them today indicated that one eye has developed appropriately and that the other, while a little behind the first, is on track to reach functioning maturity. Here's hoping!
FEEDINGS
Micah is receiving breast milk through a feeding tube. Over the past few weeks, he's had trouble digesting this from time to time. The docs put him on a half-and-half (half milk, half water) diet a couple of days ago, though, and everything's been hunky-dorey in the digestion division since then. They've asked Melissa to quit dairy cold turkey and will see if Micah can tolerate 100% breastmilk if it's not dairy-enhanced. Our other boys all had tummy trouble when mom indulged in dairy, so why not Micah? Poor Melissa. :-)
GROWTH
Micah's put on a couple of pounds and grown an inch or so since birth. He now weighs in at a whopping five pounds or so and measures 16.5" in length. As soon as he's off of his remaining IVs and his ventilator, in fact, he'll be eligible to move out of the isolet and into a crib. And we'll get to hold him, too, which will be nice.
Thanks again, everyone, for all that you're doing for us. We appreciate it. I'll try to write at least a little every day from here on out, but I'll probably come up short of the mark. Bear with us... :-)
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