Evening Update (Friday 1/23)

A quiet day for Max. Nurse N. printed out the official radiologist's report from the MRI the NICU team ordered on January 21. The last sentence read something like "No evidence of PVL". We'd already gotten the unofficial word that the doctors hadn't seen any damage in the MRI, but until we got the official report from the radiologists, we were slightly on edge.

Max continued to get his feeds over 105 minutes. He did extremely well, with one notable exception. Towards the end of one of his feeds, he visibly struggled with some reflux and then had a brady and desat. It was all over quickly, and the NICU team didn't have to hit him with supplemental oxygen or extra stimulation. This is the first brady he's had in weeks. But I can remember the days when I was routinely rubbing his chest or back trying to get his heart rate back up.

Today was the sainted Dr. B.'s last day on her rotation as the "attending" or chief doctor of the NICU. As a good public manager, Carolyn looked Dr. B. in the eye and thanked her for a specific set of achievements (management rule #1: "when you see it, say it"). I thought perhaps that after her rotation in charge of Max's care, Dr. B. might enjoy being Surgeon General. My brother pointed out that President Obama long ago nominated someone from television to be Surgeon General. Well, maybe Dr. B.'s chance will come next term.