July 23, 2008 in the Afternoon

Hello all. We just returned from seeing Zander. He is still on the C-PAP machine and continues to struggle with breathing. His nurse said that he had 3 episodes since 7 a.m. this morning which required intervention (oxygen mask) in order to get his oxygen levels up and his respiration stabilized. She also indicated that Dr. Kelley was in to see Zander before lunch. Dr. Kelley has increased his feedings from 6 ml to 10 ml per feeding. He has not rejected any of his mother's milk.

At this point in time, they are continuing to monitor his breathing. Christie and I were there for about 2.5 hours and he did not have an episode. We are unable to touch him and we really cannot even talk because it startles Zander and sends his breathing into an erratic downward spiral. It does appear that the little guy is really still working very hard at breathing so everyone is somewhat concerned that the ventilator may be the way to go at this point especially if his episodes continue. Dr. Kelley also examined Zander and removed the suction catheter from his nose and placed it into his mouth. By doing so, Zander now has no obstruction in his right nostril to breath through; however, as noted last night, his left nostril is very tiny.

On a positive note, Zander's jaundice levels are dropping and they do not think that he will need to be under the light for this issue.

Christie and I are planning on going back this evening. My grandfather (Paul Covert) is permanently migrating from Columbus, Ohio to Florida and he will be staying with us this evening. He too is excited to see the Zman.

I will write again later tonight if anything has changed. I think that Dr. Kelley was going to look in on Zander before he left for the day. Your prayers and comments are appreciated more than you know and they give us strength each day. God bless!

Rest well Zander....we will be to see you in a few hours.

Clancy