expectations

We came to the hospital today with some great expectations. Once again things haven’t gone as we planned. Riley hadn’t been able to regulate his temp. on his own last night and was still under the warmer when we got to Children’s this afternoon. He also had an episode that may possibly have been another seizure this morning, although they are not sure. This means another EEG, this time for a longer period to see if there is any abnormal brain activity. That’ll probably come tomorrow. It’ll be another chance to see Riley do his George Clinton impersonation:

Obviously this was very disappointing for us. We thought our boy was fast tracking out of Children’s but it’s still going to be a bit before he gets to leave.

We had a conference today with the neonatologist, the charge nurse on his case and the nurse on duty. They are fairly certain that the problem was an embolism that caused the stroke. They are planning some blood tests on Riley and both Shelby and I to see if there is any genetic clotting problem. They are probably also going to do another MRI that is weighted more toward seeing what the blood vessels are doing. More tests, more information, and unfortunately more time here. Not by our schedule once again.

The upside of the conference is that the prognosis for Riley is quite good. They told us that an average case like Riley’s would mean another 2-3 weeks here. Not an exciting prospect, but far less than many of the children who are being treated here. The nurse who was on this afternoon told me afterward that the conference was very encouraging and things look really good for Riley. That means a lot coming from a 25-year veteran of NICU (thanks Kim, that meant a lot to us!)

So as I sit here writing and listening to my wife sing hymns to our boy, I’m very hopeful, but maybe just a little more realistic about our timeframe. It looks like things are going well, just not super fast like we wanted. So what else is new? Another lesson in patience. I guess I haven’t learned that one well enough yet. Time to get used to the fact that our boy (and our Lord) are calling the shots, not us. At least I know that God’s plans always work better than mine. It makes it a little easier to wait.

We love our boy!

Jonathan