Our appointment on Friday revealed that Duncan's aortic arch looked very similar as the week before. In addition, however, the heart squeeze function is a little bit weaker. Dr. Cua was not alarmed, but - again - encouraged us to be very observant of change in Duncan's behavior at home.
This weekend he was a bit difficult. Mainly, the issue was with feeding (what's new!?). Our goal for every feed is 2-3 ounces. Whereas typically we get closer to 3 ounces than 2, the past two days it has been rough to get down the minimum: 2. Furthermore, Duncan has made it a habit of vomiting much, if not all, of what went down in the first place. What took the cake was when he ate poorly before going to bed last night and was still sleeping nearly 9 hours later. We woke him to feed him, and he act disinterested (when he shoulda been STARVED). Then, vomited what little went down.
So, we made the call to the Heart Center early this morning and, as expected, were instructed to come in for another echo and EKG. Although the anatomy of the heart has not changed much from Friday, Dr. Cua said that his feeding issues are of concern. What we want to avoid is dehydration and/or losing weight and becoming weak before the surgery.
Duncan was admited right around noon and will be there overnight for observation (they will continue to try feeding orally... if continues to be a problem, they will tube feed him instead). It could be that he stays until the surgery itself (which also has the possibility of moving closer) or he could be sent home tomorrow. We'll see.
At first we thought we may have been overreacting. But our cardiologist assured us otherwise. Furthermore, Duncan puked (and this is not just a regular baby spit up!) again in the Heart Clinic in Dr. Cua's presence, so it validated he needed to be watched over.
Lynette is on her way here to the house to watch Jackson while I go to the hospital to visit Duncan. Scott was the one who traveled to the hospital this morning and went through the whole routine.
We hope we did the right thing. It is so hard not having him at home, and knowing that if he stays until the surgery, he could be away from home for a total of a month or longer. But better he is guaranteed nourishment there than to be fretting over every feeding here.
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