Day 27 (28/3)

10:15am – Phone Call

Another really good night for Asher!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻

They have stopped the diuretic treatment as his fluids have begun to balance themselves out. No more swelling…

He’s got his neck back 😂😂

They are increasing his feeds to 3.5mL/hr and will begin fortification tomorrow as long as all goes well with today’s increase…

Our main Dr was on vacation for 5 days and was excited to see how much Asher had grown and the weight he’s put on (currently weighing in at 850g)…

With his underdeveloped lungs, she’s wants to move forward with the steroid treatment earlier than later. We were expecting to wait until 8/5, but because of the consistency of the negative cultures, they feel comfortable doing it early…

He’ll receive the steroids in the next day or two…

This treatment will be the Dexamethasone. We had voiced our concerns from the peer reviewed case studies we’d read and she said

“Yes, they are correct. However, the dosing in those studies was significantly HIGHER than anything we do now. Hydrocortisone would have been beneficial for his first 7-10 days of life. With him being older the lower dose treatment of Dexamethasone will be the most effective without the side effects in the studies you’ve read…”

They call it a “DART Protocol”…

Here’s an example of the dosage:

• 0.075 mg/kg/dose 12 hourly for 3 days then,
• 0.05 mg/kg/dose 12 hourly for 3 days then,
• 0.025 mg/kg/dose 12 hourly for 2 days then,
• 0.01 mg/kg/dose 12 hourly for 2 days then cease.

Were signing consent forms today to get started…

The Dr said that we can expect to see drastic results in the first 6-12 hours of treatment. Even with that, initial results may take 24 -72 hours…

We REALLY need him off the jet, and the ideal window for the steroid is the first 30 days, which we’re getting close to…

Even with his lungs being so underdeveloped, his ABG is still great 😀

They did have to adjust his PICC line a bit today. It was a little too deep so they “pulled it back a smidge…”

So far his PDA is still closed and he won’t have another echo until he’s 36 weeks in his “gestational period” (approx 7 weeks from today)…

They’ll be performing another LP Monday or Tuesday and he’s scheduled to have another head ultrasound Tuesday 8/3…

Days like this it’s easy “take the wins” and become lax with our prayer and worship. We’re continuing to give God thanks for every day Asher is here and for every win, loss or tie…