A Very Brady Blog

Life in the real world is proving to be a little more challenging than it was as a bubble boy. Overall, he's doing really well, he's 15 and 3/4 inches long and he weighed in last night at 3 pounds, 14 ounces. There is a pending weigh in tonight, we'll see if there is a change, but we're not expecting one, due to some little nagging things. We'd like to see him get growing again, but he's working a little bit, which may be eating up calories.

Since moving to the crib, Thomas has had some trouble maintaining his temperature. The very complicated and scientific solution to this is to pile on blankets, so that helps. He's also been Brady-ing and D-Sat-ing every now and then. Thomas' breathing had been a little erratic, sometimes he'll take shallow breaths or just forget to breathe at all for 10 seconds or so. The result is the Oxygen Saturation level goes down and eventually leads to D Sat. D Sat means that your Oxygen Saturation drops below an acceptable level. Low Saturation can then lead to Bradying. Brady means your heart rate temporarily drops very low. I'm not sure why they call it Brady, but every time I hear it, I can't help but think about the Brady Bunch, can't explain it, was never a big fan, except for when they went to Hawaii and found the cursed tiki statue and one of the Brady's fell off his surf board and... anyway, I do. I don't think Thomas is in any danger, but they don't want him to continuously bounce up and down on his settings.

Part of the problem has been that Thomas' nose was stuffed. Basically, sucking oxygen through his nostrils has made them dry and given him nose bleeds. Those nose bleeds have turned into clots and stopped up his nose. Once they were able to get those out yesterday, he's done much better with fewer Brady episodes (giggle).

The third issue is an on-going one that I don't think I've mentioned. Thomas' platlets are low and slowly keep going down, kind of like an oil leak. So they have periodically put in another quart of platlets (not really a quart, but you know). The doctor cannot explain why this is happening. He's run all of the tests he knows, and can't figure out why this is occurring. Its not an immediate issue and if it doesn't clear up, he'll have to go to a Hematologist. There isn't an immediate risk, if he was to get cut, it would bleed more than normal.

The low body temperature may lead him back to an isolet for a little while. We will see. But we've gotten to hold him a bunch and his eyes seem to be recovering well. He likes to show them off alot and will lay there and just stare and look around and smile. Its pretty dang awesome.

Finally, an awesome bonus video of Thomas sneezing! Don't forget to check out youtube. Ive added a bunch up there as well. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search_query=melliot22&search_sort=video_date_uploaded