Dori back in the hospital

Last few days while I was out of town Dori wasn't feeling great. He was prescribed another round of steroids to help him get over this hump but as of yesterday evening he wasn't wanting to swallow anything, not even food. He's leave things in his mouth and let it just sit there. 

So this morning without him eating and without him being able to take any of his heart meds or steroid, we were afraid he's begin showing signs of dehydration so we brought him into the ER. 

Thankfully nearly half of the medical team recognized us immediately and did their best to put Dori at ease. He was getting respiratory assistance but when they switched him over to give him a breathing treatment his O2 dropped down to 20 (ideally he is in the upper 80s-90s). 

They bagged him until he stabilized to normal then placed him on a bipap to give him extra help. He was breathing completely on his own with the bipap, but a few minutes ago had to be bumped up to his bipap helping him make more forceful breaths. Thankfully has restored to his normal color and even was telling the ladies "hi!!" and "hungry!!" through his bipap mask. 

Once all the medical info was updated in the ER he was brought up to the Picu. Before we left the nurse down there complemented Chris and I on how calm we are.  Chris said the main reason we are calm is because we have a concrete plan and don't have to make emotional decisions because we've already made those ahead of time. 

Again it's nice to see so many familiar faces in the Picu from past visits with both babies. 

After chest X-rays it looks like he has pneumonia and his heart has gotten worse since his last heart scans a few months back. If the heart isn't strongly pumping the blood thru the entire body then his body isn't going to work as well... Especially the lungs. That's what we may be looking at. His heart may be making him work way harder than normal, like if a normal person ran up a flight of stairs. 

He is more verbal and has started hitting his nurses so that sounds like he is feeling a little bit more stronger and alert which of course are good signs. He always likes to feel in control so he has had a firm grip on his tubing. 

We'll continue to monitor him here in the Picu. They have a great team here taking care of Dori that are in close communication with our specialists so we know he's in the best hands. Please please no visitors -- your  prayers are most gratefully appreciated and are is what is most helpful to our family at this point.

A huge thank you to our friends taking care of Ben and Alex (the Caracalas family), we love you guys.