Friday, August 21, 2009

A rainy Friday in Marquette (and pretty much everywhere else by the sounds of it).

The two neonatalologists in the NICU work on two-week rotations. Today we met the other doctor, Dr. Frei. Her style is different from Dr. Paxton. He was very knowledgeable, but came off a bit gruff. Dr. Frei interacted with us a little more and seemed to spend a good deal of time familiarizing herself with Charlotte's info.

Dr. Frei decided it was time for Charlotte to receive a blood transfusion today. They've been taking small amounts each day to measure her blood gases. Since she is so small and doesn't have the ability to replace that blood as fast as it is being taken she needs the transfusion to ensure her hematocrit stays in a healthy range.

That involved inserting an IV in her right hand, so now we're pretty sure there aren't many more parts to poke on her.

So far so good on the nasal cannula, but she seems to "desat" a little more frequently so it's probable that she'll go back on the CPAP sometime in the near future.

"Desat" is fancy doctor term for desaturation of oxygen in her blood. They are trying to keep the concentration of O2 between 90-94%. If it falls below 88% an alarm goes off. Sometimes it goes off just because she is moving around and messing with the sensor. At first we would get anxious if nobody was there right away, but we've learned to tune it out most of the time.

We're learning all sorts of medical terminology - desat, CPAP, vent, picc line, UVC - we might be able to take the neonatal board exam after this is all over.

We also hear many things, when taken out of context, are pretty funny. For example, "Jen, have you weighed my diaper yet" was uttered the other night.