Going Cold Turkey

We thought Samuel would be back up in the ward by now, but we discovered yesterday that the ward was short of staff and that Samuel may remain in intensive care until Monday. Actually we're glad he didn't leave ICU yesterday because last night he started exhibiting what could be withdrawal symptoms after the morphine was switched off on Friday morning, after 2 weeks of constant infusion following his most recent surgery. I was in with him for the evening and after a relatively relaxed day he started getting very agitated from about 9pm and couldn't be calmed. His heart-rate was climbing to 200+ and his oxygen levels were dropping, so after trying everything else the doctors agreed to a few one-off doses of morphine to see him through the night. That seemed to be what he was needing and both of us slept from about 1am through to 7am, when I learned that the nurse had put him back on low-flow oxygen as his levels had dipped a little, and that he had a high temperature and his white blood cell count had also increased, all sign of a possible new infection. So that was disappointing news after spending the last 2 weeks fighting the infection in his wounds, which are now looking much better. The doctors have taken urine and blood cultures so we're waiting to see if whether anything grows in these cultures in the next few days to confirm whether or not he has a new infection.

This morning, the doctors discussed Samuel's morphine requirements and agreed to restart him on a morphine infusion and then to wean him off gradually over 5 days so that his body doesn't

have the same reaction as last night. It's understandable he's grown attached to his morphine, as due to the multiple operations he's been on a constant infusion for most of his 11 weeks of life, so we're glad he's going to have time to get used to smaller doses before it stops completely.

You'll see from the main photo that we're finally getting the chance to enjoy our son without any tubes at all covering his face. I'm not convinced that's a smile, I think it was just lucky timing! He hasn't had much to smile about lately, but we're hoping that will change soon as he recovers fully from this infection and enjoys being off the ventilator and breathing for himself without the need for getting mucousy secretions suctioned up through his nose every hour.

Tonight, my brother Eddie and I took Jasmine and Candace out to a 'Knights and Princesses' Ball run by one of the local churches. The girls were so excited and spent most of the day shopping for their accessories and getting all made up by mum. It was a really fun few hours to enjoy with the girls, just dads/uncles and daughters/nieces all dressed up dancing late into the early evening to an eclectic mix of Hannah Montana, 'Funky Town', 'Mamma Mia' and 'We are Family', followed by cakes and softdrinks for dinner.