Countdown

Late last night, we found out that the culture taken from the sore on Lewis' scar a couple of days ago tested positive for staph. When we spoke to the nurse around midnight, they weren't sure yet whether it was anitibiotic resistant staph or not. Just in case, Lewis was put in "contact isolation". Staph on the skin isn't a big deal for healthier kids, but they have to be very careful that it doesn't spread around the NICU to kids with compromised immune systems. Luckily, it all turned out to be much ado about nothing. Contact isolation sounded scary, but it actually just means you wear a disposable gown and surgical gloves to handle the baby. A staph infection wouldn't have kept Lewis from coming home tomorrow either, assuming everything else goes smoothly. Still, it was a little difficult to take in, at first. By mid afternoon today, we learned that it wasn't the antibiotic resistant form of staph, so Lewis didn't need to be isolated. Nothing to see here, go on about your business...

With all this excitement, Nate didn't make it in to visit Noodles today, so we don't have any fun pictures. Everything else seems to be going well in preparation for tomorrow. There is a long list of stuff that parents need to complete in order to check a baby out of the NICU, but I think we finished the last of it today. (Reviewing how to measure and administer Lewis' meds and making sure we have all the right gear for his care at home).

Meantime, Lewis had a good day, isolated or not. He continues to tolerate the 30 minute feedings every 3 hours and he did well in physical therapy. He was kicking both legs and is showing some more range of motion in his arms. He's also looking to the left more readily. All these are hopeful signs and the therapist was quite pleased with his progress.

The PT was a nice followup to yesterday's meeting with the Neurologist. As mentioned yesterday, the results of the MRI were more positive than last time, but the overall prognosis is still very unclear. The neurologist thinks that Lewis is likely to have a significant level of movement disorder and is particularly concerned about his fine motor skills. Based on his examination, he felt that Lewis' problems are more acute in his arms than his legs and are not balanced side to side. His "best guess" for a diagnosis was "double hemiparetic cerebral palsy". This basically refers to movement disorders in the upper body. The level of severity can vary dramatically. At this point, we're taking all of the diagnoses with a grain of salt. The developmental pediatrician who examined Lewis a couple of weeks ago told us that his problems were much more severe in his legs and wasn't as concerned with his upper body. Ultimately, the diagnosis right now doesn't matter. The prescription is to do as much physical and speech therapy as possible and keep a close eye on Lewis' progress.

Tomorrow looks like it will be a big day - exciting and emotional in a lot of ways. Hopefully Lewis will be here to help us figure out what to say.