Last Wednesday we arrived here in Johannesburg with Carl. The doctors here at the specialist hospital considered Carl's heart problem to be less critical than the doctors in Durban thought.
So here we were initially told that they could possibly wait 5 months before operating on Carl. Then after a few days of observation they thought that he wasn't doing that well and meant that surgery should be done when he reaches 6 kilo in weight, this later fell to 3 kilos and on Monday, two days ago, the meaning was that when he gets to 2.5 kilo they need to do the surgery, which should then be in about 3 weeks, and they have been feeding him high-calorie food, so that he would gain in weight faster.
But yesterday morning, Tuesday, he was suddenly struck by an infection in his bowels, NEC (Necrotizing Enterocolitis) which happens to some premature babies. This infection is difficult to treat, and even more so for Carl, with his heart condition, and now with his low blood pressure. And Helen was ill, so I had to go and sit with him alone all day.
This morning we went there together, and he looked a bit better, but his blood pressure was very low. And the paediatrician told us that in this situation they lose as many babies as they save, and that he can get worse very fast, within hours.
We went there again this evening, and he was looking a lot better, better colour, much better values, blood saturation, blood pressure, etc. So that gave us some comfort, even if he is not even close to safe. If he survives this infection, then he will face the heart surgery, which is another big risk.
But soon he has had everything that he can get, if he wants to spring anymore surprise on us, I guess it will have to be swine flu :)
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