Ugh. A bad day today.

Jac had a setback today.

The doctor in charge of the ICC had taken Jac off the high-flow canulae and put him on a low-flow canulae. Taj protested to him that Jac needed the high-flow canulae because he needed the breathing assistance created by the higher air pressure of the high-flow. Despite her protests, Jac ended up with the low-flow canulae early this evening.

Some time after that, Jac's breathing became erratic and he desaturated several times. As Taj described it, his SpO2 would drift down for a bit and then plummet. He apparently needed to be vent-bagged a few times. The night nurse (one of the ones we really like at DCH) eventually realized that Jac was congested and suctioned him clear -- that helped, but his breathing was still labored.

The nurse practitioner ordered an X-ray and blood gas to see what was going on. Based on the radiology, she determined that Jac's lung had 'shrunk' and that he needed to be back on the CPAP. In order to get him on the CPAP, and to also get him more constant monitoring, she also determined that Jac needed to go back to the NICU.

So, at about 10 pm (I think??), we migrated Jac out of the ICC and back to the NICU, where he was given a CPAP mask setup. It seemed like the respiratory care tech (not a RRT??) fumbled a lot putting the mask on, and the end result didn't look as neatly attached as the setup that he had before. Taj will ask the RT on duty tomorrow to re-do his mask.

We also discovered a couple of noisy leaks on the CPAP exhaust line. We had discovered this exact problem on Jac's first CPAP setup last week. We taped the leak shut because we are worried that the loud hiss would be hard on Jac's ears and nerves.

The respiratory care tech opened up two more CPAP kits, and they also had various leaks in the exhaust tube. That's a total of four (one from last week, and three tonight) kits that had these noisy leaks! Clearly a problem with the batch. The respiratory tech told us that she would check into the matter... I may be doing my own calling around!

Alexis and I returned to Boulder. Taj decided that she couldn't leave the hospital tonight, so she is camped out in the NICU. I hope she gets decent rest tonight. It was a very tough night for Jac, and a very tough night for Taj. In some ways, I am more worried about Taj -- when Jac grows up, he won't remember any of the drama that he went through...