Monday Update
Sorry so late again. Oddly enough, my days seem to go by so fast that it is 1:00 am before I am finally in bed! Brooks had another good day. His arterial line came out today which is great. He was also weened off the Heparin and is being weened off Milranone which is a heart med. The do not like to let them leave the ICU with being on the milranone so I guess it's a good thing they are trying to get him off of it. I found out a new number that I need to be aware of tonight...it's the BNP. Do not ask me what is stands for but it is a chemical that the heart releases when it is in distress. Apparently the levels only measure up to 5000 and that is where Brooks was at when he came in. His nurse said he very well could have been over 5000 but that is as high as they can measure. He is now down to 2600, which is good but when I asked what a "normal" number would be I was told 0. So now I have a new thing to stress over. Obviously his heart was in great distress and it is good that it has come down by at least half but they would still like to see that number around 500. But, I was told that the number is still decreasing even while being weened on the heart meds so that is good.
He was also seen today by a speech therapist who came to help with bottle feeding. He actually did really good. They wanted him to take 30 mls in 20 minutes and he finished in 10. For those of you who followed when Carson was in the NICU dealing with feeding issues it would take him 20 minutes to finish 10 mls! So this was good. He still has a feeding tube so that he doesn't exert too much energy but the fact that he can and wants to eat is a good sign.
Besides that there really wasn't too much going on today. I got to get out with Andrew's mom for lunch at Lenox mall and do a little retail therapy (don't tell Andrew) and then had dinner with my mom and my friend Renata, who is letting me live at her house right now. I'm not sure how I will repay her and KC for their generosity! It's just so nice to have a "home" to come to each night...thank you guys!
Keep praying for a STRONG heart and a steady (I do not want speedy because I want him to be ready) recovery.
He was also seen today by a speech therapist who came to help with bottle feeding. He actually did really good. They wanted him to take 30 mls in 20 minutes and he finished in 10. For those of you who followed when Carson was in the NICU dealing with feeding issues it would take him 20 minutes to finish 10 mls! So this was good. He still has a feeding tube so that he doesn't exert too much energy but the fact that he can and wants to eat is a good sign.
Besides that there really wasn't too much going on today. I got to get out with Andrew's mom for lunch at Lenox mall and do a little retail therapy (don't tell Andrew) and then had dinner with my mom and my friend Renata, who is letting me live at her house right now. I'm not sure how I will repay her and KC for their generosity! It's just so nice to have a "home" to come to each night...thank you guys!
Keep praying for a STRONG heart and a steady (I do not want speedy because I want him to be ready) recovery.
Comments
"A brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) test measures the amount of the BNP hormone in your blood. BNP is made by your heart and indicates how well your heart is working. Normally, only a low amount of BNP is found in your blood. However, if your heart has to work harder than usual over a long period of time, such as from heart failure, the heart releases more BNP, increasing the blood level of BNP. The BNP level will drop when treatment for heart failure is working."
Great news!
Kim
OK, so the blog is letting me post again! It goes back and forth.
We are in Vegas and had dinner with a young lady who is a GP. Spent the whole night asking her questions about Brooks (poor woman)! Learned about efficiency rates, etc. Nothing you don't know, but good to get info on this. It was actually a break for her husband who is Secret Service. Normally, I would have been bugging him all evening!
Glad to here we are making progress here. Slow and steady is good.
Love,
Uncle Jeff