Puppy Hat and Gus' First Test

Gus came of the CPAP on Wednesday and onto the cannula in preparation for his TOPS analysis today. I know TOPS is an acronym for something but don't remember what it is. Basically it is a test to give some clues as to what is at the root of Gus' severe apnea events. While we didn't get any conclusive results back this evening it looks like increased pressure has helped over the past few days (CPAP and cannula flow off 2+ liters/minute.)

Gus also had his caffeine increased to 20 mg every 12 hours. As a comparison - a cup of green tea has 20 mg of caffeine. An 8 oz cup of coffee has about 60 mg. A 2 oz espresso shot has around 45 mg. Eight ounces of Ben and Jerry's Coffee Fudge Frozen Yogurt frozen has a whopping 85 mg! I usually have the equivalent of 4 espresso shots a day and I weight 155 lb - that is 1.16 mg per pound in 24 hours. Gus is getting 40 mg and is 4.5 lb - that is 8.9 mg per pound in 24 hours. It's good to be hooked early...

Look at Gus' CUTE puppy hat. I'm not huge on "cute" things, but this really is. You can see Jill beaming as she holds her much-loved little guy. My arm is in the picture too - holding Gus' feed which he is receiving via gravity. Rather than making Gus do all the work to suck milk out of a bottle right now they are giving him a rest and using the gravity feed as a way to simulate the speed of bottle feeding for him.

No big weight change - he went up a few grams yesterday. Maybe due to the CPAP apparatus coming off too which can add a little bit. The big growth change was noted in Gus' length - he is now 44 cm (or 17.3 inches) long!

On another note, Gus had another eye exam and found out that he may have some stage-two scarring on the retina. The opthamologist will re-examine Gus on Monday to confirm. If this is indeed the case, Gus will almost certainly need laser surgery to eliminate the scarring and stop it from spreading. The surgery has awesome and predictably positive results which makes us feel better. The tough part is that Gus will have to stop feeds for a bit and be put out cold which means a short trip back onto the respirator. We obviously hope this doesn't happen but this problem, called retinopathy, is very common in micro-preemies like Gus.

With Eyes Turned Upward,
Gregg, Jill and Gus