Big Day for Andrew

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for our boy. The pulmonologist and neonatologist met on Monday to evaluate Andrew. His carbon dioxide level was 69 and oxygen needs around 43. The pulmonologist wants him to be in the 50's for carbon dioxide and 40's for oxygen before moving him to the home ventilator, so we're halfway there. They discovered that Andrew has some air leaking around his tracheotomy that may be causing him to have higher carbon dioxide levels, and his acid reflux is getting into lungs causing more problems.

They put in a larger trach and are giving him until tomorrow morning to get his carbon dioxide levels down. Since the new trach was put it, his oxygen levels have come down to the 30's, which is a positive sign.

If his carbon dioxide levels come down to the 50's, and his oxygen needs stay in the 30's to 40's, then we'll be moving to Our Children's House next week on a home ventilator. That is what we want. One step closer to getting him home.

However, if his carbon dioxide levels are still in the 60's, we'll have to make some decisions. We could wait and give Andrew time to grow. This would mean a move to Children's Medical Center where he can get better help developmentally. As he grows, his lungs would grow, and he would slowly get better. We would also continue to have the issue of the acid reflux getting into his lungs, which is slowing the process down.

Another option is to have another surgery. They would perform a nissan, which wraps the stomach around the esophagus, so the acid relux can't come back up. There is no guarantee that this would work though. It would hopefully fix his acid relux, but there's an unknown on how it would help his lungs.

They could also put him on a burst of steroids, again. This seems to be a short term fix with possible long term developmental issues. He's had them in the past, but we would rather not have him go through another round.

Please pray for Andrew. Pray that his lungs would become more clear, his carbon dioxide levels would come down to the 50's, and his acid reflux would become less and less. Pray for God's will in Andrew's life.