Wiersma Family Blog

WIERSMA FAMILY BLOG
A glimpse into our lives as a family with micro-preemies. Our twins boys (Lovingly referred to as our Miracle Men) were born almost 16 weeks early.

Our journey continues when our son Max was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 3. This is his story....


Friday, August 7, 2009

19 weeks

Once again, sorry for infrequent updates. The boys are doing pretty well. Max is still on a CPAP of 8 and his oxygen needs have been in the 40-45% range. He continues to gain weight, maybe a little quicker than the docs would like, and as of last night (Thursday), he weighed 9 pounds 10 ounces. They have increased his dosage of Aldactazide, a diuretic designed to help pass any excess fluids. He continues to use his voice to get attention when he feels like getting held...which is pretty much all of the time.

Wes is currently on off CPAP and high-flow nasal cannula!! He is coming up on the 48-hour mark, but the docs think he is working a little too hard. If his blood gases show that his CO2 is in the 70s, he is going back on CPAP. His last gas was this afternoon at 2:00 and his CO2 was 66, up from the highs 50s the night before. It seems like it is a pretty good possibility he will end up back on CPAP soon, but God has answered so many prayers in ways we never could have imagined, so we a certainly not shutting the door to a miracle at this point. He is such a sweet little boy without his SCUBA apparatus, and it is just so nice to be able to easily move him around without the CPAP junk. The thought of going back on CPAP will just feel like coming home is farther and farther away.


Both boys are absolutely entranced by their mobiles. They literally follow the little dangling fish all the way around the rotation of the mobile. Some people told us early on not to even get mobiles because kids don't/can't focus on them...that is not the case for Max and Wes. Max has another toy in his crib that he has really been enthralled by as of late too...as you can see in the picture below:


I have been pretty sick over the last few days and have not been to see the boys since Wednesday evening. That really sucks. I am starting to feel a little better, and because of the situation with the boys, I did go to Prime Care to make sure I did not have the flu or some over infection. I suppose after 5 months of "living" in a hospital, the body is bound to pick up a bug or two somewhere along the line.

3 comments:

  1. Praising God for steady progress! Praying that Wes can stay of the CPAP and that you would feel better soon, Mark! Great pictures of the boys... it's so amazing to see how much they've grown. Two precious miracles!

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  2. My prayers continue for you and the boys.
    God Bless You
    God Keep You
    God Smile on You
    and God Give you, His peace.
    In His Grip.barb baumann

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  3. Such cute pictures! They are two great little (not so little anymore) miracles.
    We are sending lots of prayers & love your way.
    Stacy, Geoff, Cassi, Evan & Sadie

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