Feeling Better...

Day 64, 1370 grams (exactly 3 pounds!)

OK, where to start? I do have an infection and it's likely from my central line. The central line is like an IV, except that it is a really long, extremely thin tube that goes almost to my heart. It supplied me with my TPN and can usually stay in for weeks. Problem is, whenever you have a piece of plastic in your body for a long time, eventually your body will reject it. And that is when you can get an infection. So the infection, called staphylococcus, caused sepsis, pulmonary edema, leukopenia (low white blood cells), and thombocytopenia (low platelets). This led to increased apnea and bradycardia episodes. That's a lot of big words. In baby language, I got really sick from my food tube and had trouble breathing.

So the central line came out, the nurses started poking me for blood samples every three hours or so and I was put on some antibiotics, which seem to be working. At this writing I am now breathing room air, and my colour has returned to normal--yesterday I was white as a ghost. Some sure signs that I'm doing all right: I hate my CPAP tube up my nose, I wiggle around and fuss and cry when they suck out my boogers, and I peed on a nurse today. Bullseye! I still got it...

Thanks for all your words of encouragement! It meant a lot to me and my parents. I'm not out of the woods just yet, so I'll let you know if anything else major develops.

Bye!


AOV