The only piggies around Mason are his toes...

We made it out of the PICU today! Mason continued to do better throughout the day and was stable on 5-6L of oxygen. He had no coughing all day long. And best of all, his H1N1 (Swine Flu) test came back negative - NO FLU!!! Though we were pretty sure the test would come back negative, we were very relieved to hear the results . With the help of a little tylenol, he was even able to take a little nappy poo (wish I could say the same for me...).

So, the current theory of why things went so badly yesterday is that we did not keep up with his fluid levels. In other words, we did a great job of making sure his labs improved, but in doing so, he did not get enough diuretics. So, the inflammation in his lungs increased and he couldn't move air as much. The coughing, as anyone with asthma could tell us, was related to trying to move air through his lungs. The tighter they are, the less he can breathe, the more he coughs. Thankfully, after a huge dose of steroids, a huge dose of lasix, and a few nebulizer treatments, he was doing much better.

They have not ruled out aspiration (in fact, the lung doctor is still sounding like a broken record), so we are going to continue to keep Mason on IV fluids instead of food for a few more days. One less variable while we are trying to get his diuretics under control. Once the diuretics are under control, we'll talk to the GI folks about whether or not we should try feeding him straight into his intestine like we did last fall so that we can avoid any possible reflux. We need to find out a bunch of information about the ways to do it, but this type of feeding does sound like a definite possibility - either through a nose tube, putting a longer tube through his stomach (where he already has a feeding tube), or placing a new tube straight through is right side into his intestine. The feeding schedule would still be challenging, but if it's what we have to do, it's what we have to do. But like Scarlett O'Hara said, "I can't think about that now. I'll go crazy if I do. I'll think about it tomorrow."

Thanks to everyone for their continued thoughts and prayers. We appreciate them!