Good stuff

Keller continues to surprise us with how resilient he is... to look at him, you wouldn't have any idea of the challenges he faces... He looks amazing! Today (and yesterday) focused almost entirely on his ability to eat. He's done a great job; he's a hungry little rascal and has already had a few dirty diapers too, which are a great sign after someone moves your intestines all over the place. :) 

He definitely has to work on his endurance when feeding, which is his main exercise with his heart issues. He gets pretty quickly fatigued, but his breathing only occasionally elevates to panting and he can eat a good bit before he falls asleep; overall, we couldn't ask for more. The NICU folks couldn't be happier, I don't think. And he's getting better with each feeding. They also removed his IV!

Now that he's moved from scheduled feedings to pretty much whenever he's hungry, Alli has been given a small room in the NICU to stay close by for him, and will stay overnight at least tonight.

I again reiterate that I can't believe Keller just had surgery... He looks so good!

We're told that if things continue and there are no issues with his heart, we may be discharged as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday. The cardiologists have another heart echo scheduled tomorrow, and we'll get a better picture of how he's doing.  We can't wait to take him home!

Some of you have questions regarding the timing of his heart surgery at Duke... to answer as best I can, we don't know yet what that timing is, but we aren't going straight to Duke from Vidant. He needs a couple of months at minimum to build up strength - his heart can handle artificial tissue and surgery in general a lot better after a little time has passed. Assuming no more issues arise, he'll come home soon, he'll be constantly checked by either Duke or Vidant in the meantime (a lot of driving ahead!), and Duke will ultimately determine when he needs to have the surgery. Before he was born, his cardiologist told us to expect a timeframe of 2 to 6 months depending on how his heart holds up - he expected Keller would need surgery in the 2-month range, given the severity of the defects. Now that his heart is pumping on its own, they can plan more accurately. We eagerly await what they find!

So, yes, we will be in New Bern for at least a few weeks before the heart surgery. Vidant will give us more information soon on how much he can be in public; since he officially has no spleen, he has to have medicines to protect against disease; I don't know if he'll be more susceptible to infection or not. I hope you guys can meet this little boy soon, and we'll know something shortly as to whether we can show him off to you soon.

That's about it... I'm typing this from the Ronald McDonald House computer and can't attach any photos; I'll make up for that soon. :)

Night everyone!

Phillip