Fever Free

Yesterday was a rough day for Matthew, fighting whatever ailment he’s fighting (a cold?).  Poor kid…not only is he breathing heavier because of his big heart, he’s congested and having a harder time breathing.  His fever continued through the day, hitting 103 mid-day.  He’s been miserable and making sure everyone around him knows it. 

We did go ahead with Matthew’s 3rd dose of diuretic.  But first I called renal to make sure we could give him a fever reducer with the diuretic.  Because they don’t want to tax his one kidney, absolutely no Motrin with the diuretic and only Tylenol up to 4 times a day.

Yesterday, we also visited the GI for our follow up from a few weeks ago.  Now, knowing about Matthew’s CHF, he recommended feeding Matthew less volume, more frequently with higher caloric concentration (27 calories/ounce instead of our previous 24). We’ll adjust again after the PDA fix.

Last night, we became hopeful that Matthew’s ailment is on its way out while I began to feel like I might have caught it.  His nose stopped running and he actually slept while my throat started hurting.  At first, we thought “Oh no! Mommy can’t go down!” and then I realized that if I get what Matthew has, my body will create antibodies that will end up in Matthew’s milk.  Maybe that will put him on the road to recovery earlier! 

This morning, Matthew woke up ultra congested, but fever free.  We pray he’ll be well enough for the heart catheterization on Thursday.  I called the Cath Lab yesterday to find out our options.  If Matthew’s still not 100% on Monday, the cardiologist will make the call whether to reschedule.  If we have to reschedule, the first opening is the 3rd week of October.  Not ideal since that will further push the skull surgery but it is what it is.  We have to trust it is all part of God’s bigger plan for Matthew and for us.