Friday, September 14, 2007

Avery's Brain Bleed the Same, Now Signs of Hydrocephalus

I didn't get to the hospital until about 8:30 last night. Tracey and Evan were still there. Colby looked great. It's kinda funny because even with his little features, he still "looked" just like an adult would if they were heavily medicated. He would open his eyes, but stare off into nowhere. His movements were sluggish and he would respond to your touch, but it would be delayed. At this point, he's letting his respirator do all the breathing for him. They're trying to clear some liquid from his lungs, probably from all the liquid they put in him during his surgery. He was more responsive last night than the day before and I'm looking forward to going to see him today when he's all the better.

Avery was doing well too. As I mentioned, they put a thicker breathing tube into her and that seems to have helped her feel less agitated. They got the results from her ultrasound back and her brain bleed (IVH) is still the same. But now there's signs of hydrocephalus. You may have seen dwarfs with enlarged heads or pictures from years ago where the facial features are normal, the be forehead or skull overall are very large. This is from hyrdrocephalus. It's a build up of water between the brain and the skull. No a days, it doesn't pose too much of a risk as long as the doctors can keep on top of it. Avery has a very mild case at this point. If it doesn't progress, it will probably have absolutely no impact. If it does, they intervene early now a days and would drain the fluid before it pushing too hard on her head or brain. So that's a new thing to monitor for her.

But apart from that they're doing well. They're 2 weeks and 4 days old now. : ) YIPPIEEEE!! It feels like they've been in the NICU for months. I can see the changes in them already. They're opening their eyes much more. Moving about more. They respond to our voices more. Life is good !!

1 comment:

Liz and Chris said...

Chloe asked me how the twins were doing the other becuase she "knows they are sick". She is walking with me in October and said she was going to be "walking for the twins". I got goosebumps and thought that was just so awesome! Even 7 year olds have you guys in their thoughts and are pulling for those babies!