Update

Monday (11/6), I went to see Kyle. He is still in the downstairs NICU where they had put him to recover from anesthesia. He is in Pod #4. They said that the cardiology department had gotten the results but had not made a decision on what to do yet. The artery calcification (which the nurse refers to as stenosis) is on the outer branches of the arteries - not near the main valve - so the cardiologists are not sure if heart catheterization using ballooning would be effective or even needed.

Yesterday (11/10), I went to see Kyle again and the nurse practitioner said that it seems the cardiology department has decided to just keep an eye on Kyle but not to do any procedures at this time. They have been doing the occasional bottle feed for him but they said that when they took him off the diuretics, his respiratory rate went up again so they had to take him off bottle feeds temporarily and they started him back on the diuretics. They are going to try to wean him off the diuretics more slowly this time to see if all goes well. While I was there visiting, they said his respiratory rate was okay to try a bottle feed so I asked if I could try breastfeeding him. They said it was okay! He latched on like he had been doing it since day one! It was a truly special moment.

The nurse practitioner says that their main goal now is to get Kyle on regular feeds. If they can get him on regular feeds, she says we will be able to take him home shortly afterward. Of course, there's the possibility that he might need oxygen when we bring him home and we'll be having to bring him to All Children's for plenty of follow-up care appointments (eyes, heart, lungs, development, etc.) but we would be taking him home!

In other news, the timing couldn't be better for Kyle coming home since my first cycle with Nielsen just ended. From now until December 28th (when the next cycle starts up), the only hours I'll have to work are the occasional training classes so I can be home more with Kyle his first weeks back.

My mom and I also worked the election this past Tuesday, which fills in some gaps financially between cycles at Nielsen. Mom and I got about 20 hours of training pay for the elections and then 15 more hours for the call center the day of the elections. Not only that, but as I left the last training class before election day, the training supervisors asked if I'd like to work in a supervisory position for the day of the election instead of taking calls. I agreed and they paid me a little extra for the day of the election. It was fun although my feet were killing me for a couple of days after. They even said that if I work with the call center for any future elections, they would like me to be a supervisor again!