Science is Not an Exact Science

Greetings... guest blogger Rus here. The day after our neuro"science" fun (he said with snide quotation marks, as science usually trades in certainties), Wyatt had a double-header appointment schedule. Shay the pulminologist and Mian the gastro-interologist. Just to prove Kaiser deals in exactitudes, Wyatt's next-day weight was clocked at 19 lbs, 6.5 oz. That's four ounces more than yesterday. Hooray, science!

Wyatt had his first blood/oxy mesurement since NICU today, and was at 99%. Interestingly, where the sensor seven months ago went around his foot, today it went around his big toe.

Not so surprising, then, that Mian's first reaction was surprise out how big Wyatt's gotten; it's been four months since she'd seen him. Wyatt the Love Machine, who'd already flirtered with the nurse who checked him in, flirted with Mian. And her intern. And Shay's intern. But not with Shay. Odd, as he's a lovely man. Everybody was very surprised by how well he looked, how engaged he was (and how squirmy). It made me realize just how different he's become in these last seven months since leaving the NICU. He's unrecognizable.

Shay seemed confused that Gotschall didn't want to immediately put Wyatt under and insert tubes the moment the fluid was discovered. Perhaps that's just his Shayness, which I characterize as cautious to the point of superstition. Otherwise, he and his intern (cute enough to hold Wyatt's entire attention, despite two tempting stethoscope cords dangling nearby) gave him a thorough listen, and all is well.

The upshot of the dual visits is this: we're now moving to ween Wyatt completely off both the Reglan and Zegrid, with the Pulmicort to follow if those go well. The plan is to cut the Reglan in half for two days, and if he doesn't start refluxing again, to end it comepletely (Reglan has "a short half-life," according to Mian) for two days. If things continue to go well, we then can end the Zegerid. If that goes well for a month, Shay gave us the go-ahead to cut the Pulmicort in half, to once a day. After a month of that, figures crossed, we can stop the last of Wyatt's medications.

That's a weird feeling. These are things that have been a part of his life - and our routine - for most of his life. Of course, His Shayness cautioned that the Plumicort might come back as-neeeded, if Wyatt caught a bad flu bug, or for flu season entirely, or just as-needed, but the mere idea that Wyatt will no longer have a steady medical routine is almost foreign. We've never not had one, never had a feeding were medication wasn't a consideration. And now that's the direction we're moving in.

Maybe. Hopefully. Possibly. Soon.