June 20 - Hearing Schmearing

21:05 - After a rocky week (with shoddy posting), I'm happy to report today was a good day overall.

Yes, Max finally had his first hearing test today ("pass/fail" ), and although he failed, it's not a meaningful fail. What does that mean? It means the technician testing Max came when he was wide awake (they usually come during sleep) and Max fought the special earphones the whole time. It means Max was horribly congested during the test which could cause a "fail." It means ... a whole lotta nothing at this point. We've said it before that hearing loss is highly likely and CMV babies can have progressive hearing loss. This test was only to serve as a baseline for future tests.

More miscellaneous happenings:

+ Max' umbilical stump finally gave up its last hold today during Dr. G's exam.

+ We couldn't attempt another bottle feed today because the OT left before replenishing the bedside supply of milk thickener. Yesterday's day bottle didn't go so well but we heard the night one (given at 02:00) went very well. Speaking of milk, we're going to try the Real Thing next week instead of the bottle. It's worth a shot, especially since Max seems to struggle the most with the bottle milk flow stopping when he wants it to. To be totally honest, I'm scared of what will happen if he does well with it. Will I have to be at the hospital every four hours for him? Will I continue pumping on top of nursing? Will I have to be away from Meaghan more? I know it's all speculation at this point, but I'm thinking about it nevertheless.

+ No platelets today, or this week for that matter -- he hasn't received any since June 12, and this is the longest stretch that he's gone without a transfusion since birth. Platelets have waffled between 22K and 28K (they were 25K today), so no complaints because they're at least somewhat stable.

+ Dr. G. has canceled blood gases for now. After 5 days of good gases they're giving Max' poor little heels (where they draw the blood) a rest. Yesterday was the last gas, returning a "50," one of his best ever.

So what's to come next week, besides the milk source switcheroo? I have no clue! I think that's the first time I've said that! Posting will be minimal over the weekend unless there's a significant development.