Monday, April 25, 2011

The right dose

Just when we thought we couldn't possibly squeeze one more time consuming activity into a day, Drew's antibiotic schedule got changed. We had been giving him two different antibiotics, one after another, 3 times a day. When they checked his drug levels on Friday, it came back that they were to high and his kidneys weren't clearing the medication as well as they should. So the doctor ordered a stronger dose of medication to be given twice a day rather than 3 times a day. But only 1 medicine. So now we have 1 antibiotic administered a 6:30am, 2:30pm and 10:30pm, and another given at 7am and 7pm. We had a wedding to go to Saturday night and were just going to make sure we were home by 10 to get him started, but since we had to do it at 7pm and 10:30 we decided that Martin would just stay home to get it done. It was a bummer that he couldn't come, because it was one hell of a fun wedding!

We had my family in town for Easter this year. Although chaotic, it was 10,000 times better than last year when Drew was in the NICU for Easter. We did have a homecare nurse show up about 5 minutes after we sat down to eat, because she needed to test his drug levels on the new dose and schedule. I just got a call that they are now a little bit low and they are going to strengthen it just a bit...and check again tomorrow. I don't really care that they have to keep checking. I want it to be right and kill all of the bacteria we're trying to kill while not causing harm to his kidneys. But when they have to come to check it, they have to finger prick him twice (once before we start and once 30min after the drug is done running). This means hes screaming his head off while they're doing it, and he also is exhausted because he can't just go down for a nap after he gets the meds like he has been because they need to check it at the end. It also means being home and available to let the nurse in, who inevitably shows up 30 minutes to early or to late. Again, I shouldn't complain because at least we're not in the hospital. Its just a pain. But you do what you've gotta do. I'm just waiting for the doctors appointment when they tell me they've got a pill he can take that will make this all go away. Its coming, I know its coming. Patience is not my finest virtue.

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