Eviction Notice?

Everyone seems to want Thomas to go home. Rebecca really wants Thomas to go home. The nurses would like Thomas to go home. The insurance company seems especially anxious for Thomas to go home. Thomas appears to be fairly bored with the limited scenery in his current surroundings.

How are we going to get across that finish line? Well its all about the feeding. Today, Rebecca met with the occupational therapist and the pediatric doctor who will be taking care of Thomas, post NICU. They tested Thomas' swallow capability this morning, which is done by giving him a syrup like substance with dye in it, and then they x ray it as he takes it from a bottle. Of course during this test, Thomas was more than willing to take the bottle and gobbled down 20 ccs. Unlike his normal feedings. The results were very good. He has a very strong swallowing mechanism.

The strongest possibility that is left is acid reflux, which is very common when you have a ventilation tube down your throat for an extended period of time. They are putting him on Prilosec to see how that does through next week. Depending on what happens, they may postpone the hernia surgery. The reason being, if the Prilosec does not work, they will insert a G tube into his stomach and they would like to do that at the same time as the hernia.

The G tube would be used to feed Thomas at night whatever he doesn't eat during the day, when he comes home. Basically, one way or another, Thomas will be home in a couple weeks. This part of the journey is almost over. There would be an added bonus of the G tube, although we'd like Thomas to get fully comfortable and at ease with the bottle, the G tube would be used at night to feed Thomas. So, no night feedings! I jinxed us on purpose by telling you this so that Thomas gets better sooner.

One other note. Rebecca met the pediatric doctor Monday. When she did, he told her that he had never had a boy who was born under 500 grams. Thomas would be the first. When she told me that, I thought it was weird and quietly wondered if maybe we had an inexperienced doctor or something. I knew this wasn't true and Thomas' nurse told us how great he is. Today, Rebecca found out from the occupational therapist that the reason why the doctor had not taken care of a boy who was born less than 500 grams is that very few boys that weigh that little survive. She told Rebecca that Thomas was a miracle. I don't really like that sort of description. I think it puts a little undue pressure on him to really make a difference or be special. Maybe say that the situation was miraculous and we're all just along for the ride.