It is now Sunday. Eli's CO2 level from last night was a 67. That is an improvement from the 72 he was at but not the kind of drop they were hoping for. They plan on testing Eli again late this afternoon or early evening. They think they are going to hold us over one more night to make sure the CO2 is dropping. They want it to be under 55 before they would be willing to discharge us and ideally they want it less than 50.
By the time evening rolls around we're getting a little anxious. As long as Eli's CO2 continues to drop and then remains steady in the less than 55 range we can eventually take him home. They just want to make sure Eli's CO2 levels are controlled and stable before they let us go so it might take a few more days.
Patricia is staying with Eli this evening and I'm at home with the boys. At 7:00pm I get a call from a very upset Patricia. They retested Eli's CO2 this evening and it was a 70. It's supposed to be dropping not increasing. The worst part is they are sending Eli back up to the NICU. A CO2 level of 70+ is life threatening and Eli needs to be put on a CPAP machine to help his respiration and gas exchange. Patricia really got her hopes up that we would be able to bring Eli home and this latest run of events has just about broken her spirit. She is afraid that Eli isn't going to make it out of the hospital.
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