And so it goes

So much for having a quiet and uneventful week . . . 

Zachary started bleeding from his trach a few days ago.  Just a few pinkish streaks at first.  Eventually turned into a bright red flow shooting from the trach.  So much so that it clogged the suction tubing.  We didn't go to the emergency room, partly because we're scared to death he's going to get sick at the hospital and partly because it didn't seem that serious.  Funny how blood shooting out the hole in his neck doesn't seem so serious.  Well, maybe not funny, but you know, serious has become a relative term. 

His ENT surgeon at Children's, who is fantastic, found that he has a granuloma, or clump of scarred skin, that is partially blocking his airway and causing the bleeding.  He has ordered a different type of trach that he thinks may not cause as much irritation in his trachea, which leads to these tissue build-ups.  He was hoping this would solve the problem but the past couple days we've been getting think clumps of sticky blood from his trach, which can clog his breathing tube and cause real bad problems.  He said he may have him come in this coming Wednesday to fix the problem surgically.

We also saw the cardiologist today.  We were a bit surprised that Zachary's pulmonary hypertension hasn't gotten any better over the past six months.  Basically, because of his prematurity, the blood vessels in his lungs are somewhat messed up and malformed, leading to fewer passages for the blood to flow past the air sacs in his lungs to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen.  Since there are fewer routes for the blood to go, the pressure is higher than it should be and his heart, specifically the right ventricle, has to work harder to pump the blood along its way and properly oxygenate this blood.

The concern is that the cumulative effect of this increased workload on the heart causes the right ventricle to enlarge and eventually stop working.  The doctor categorized Zachary's PH as mild to moderate, but thinks it is worth monitoring more closely by someone specializing in PH.  So he referred us to another cardiologist who he said is one of the foremost PH experts on the East Coast.  And lucky for us, he's also at CNMC. 

The news about the PH kinda jolted us as we just assumed (which clearly is something you can't do with a preemie with such a myriad of complex medical conditions) that the PH would have improved over the past months.  But the good news, as with his other diagnoses, is that the docs think the problem will get better, or with the PH specifically, at least will not get worse over time.  So here's hoping.

Also had our kitchen floor tiles ripped out today because they were cracking.  What a mess.  The workers are coming back on Monday to put in the new tile.  So the house is a disaster area, even more so than normal.  But the weather has been nice.  So one week ends and another awaits.

And so it goes.