23 November 2010 (pm)

We'll be here at least one more day, possibly more. There was more fluid on Jereth's lungs in the X-ray taken today than the doctor was comfortable with. He is consulting with the pediatric cardiologist about increasing the dosage of the diuretic.

Here's the dilema: We need Jereth to grow. In order to grow he has to take in Calories. To get the Calories he requires fluid. The more fluid in his system, the more likely he is to get excess fluid in his lungs. The more fluid in his lungs, the harder his heart has to work. The harder his heart has to work, the more Calories are burned just keeping his blood pumping. The more Calories burned by his heart, the less Calories available for him to grow.

When Jereth feeds he frequently needs oxygen, but the doctor says the oxygen is just a bandaid. The underlying cause of the low oxygen levels is the fluid in his lungs. We can use the bandaid, but we need to do everything we can to work on the root cause of the problem.

We'll be here until we have a good system worked out to balance all of the pieces to keep him stable and growing.