Robert Thomas Wood
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Robbie was born at 25 weeks gestation due to preeclampsia on December 4, 2001. We were both very sick when he was taken c-section. The doctors and nurses at St. Mary's Health Center in St. Louis did APGAR tests on him in the womb. The morning of the day I delivered, his first APGAR test was a 2 out of 8, very bad. His second one that afternoon was a 6. By 9:00 P.M., His Apgar test had dropped again to 4. I am told that my blood pressure was dangerously high. My husband told me much later that the doctors told him if they didn't take Robbie right then, we both would have died.
He was transferred to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital a few hours after birth. His APGAR scores showed he had stabilized. Robbie was hospitalized for almost 9 months. During that time, we almost lost him once. His NNP could not get his sats above 70. She called us in to be with him. I was frantic. By the time we got to the hospital, he had stabilized and was satting in the high 90's. It turned out his right lung had collapsed. By putting him on his left side, his right lung could re-inflate. I was so relieved he was still with us.
Robbie made the typical move forward 2 steps, take one step back progress so typical of preemies. His diagnosis was prematurity (of course) and BPD. He was doing well until he was 6 1/2 months old. He developed Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension in Newborns (PPHN). This was a very scary time for my husband Jeff and I. Robbie had to be induced into a coma, given Versed for pain, and put on Nitric Oxide. He also had to be intubated. He was in a coma for a week. I didn't leave his bedside during visiting hours.
After being in a coma for a week, he was better. He was allowed to come out of the coma and be more alert. I was so happy to see him. Unfortunately, one of the side affects of the PPHN was that he would be on a ventilator for a while. Since he was going to be on the vent for such a long time, he needed to be trached.
We followed Robbie's bed as far as we could to the operating area. His looked back at us with a questioning look on his face and my husband broke down and cried. Jeff wanted to run in and grab Robbie off the table to keep him from having any more pain. Jeff also realized that a trach was the best option for Robbie. Robbie made vast improvements after he was trached and was moved to the Special Care Unit of the NICU.
He developed reflux after he was moved to special care. We tried everything to help him keep his food down, but it would always come back up. His NNP and I discussed a Nissan Fundoplication. The Fundo is a section of stomach wrapped around the lower esophagus to prevent reflux. It acts as a one-way valve into the stomach. I was very concerned about this, as when I was nine years old, I had viral meningitis and couldn't keep anything down for weeks. I worried that Robbie would get something like that, or the flu and not be able to regurgitate to make him fell better. The surgeon who did the procedure on him told me that when kids are given this procedure at a young age, they can sometimes develop the ability to regurgitate.
After the Fundo, Robbie made wonderful progress. So much so that we were told it would take him a month to recover and be able to go home, but it only took two weeks! Boy, did we have to do some rearranging at home really quickly!
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Update, March 2004: Robbie was decannulated on June 14th, 2003. He has made remarkable progress in his speech. He is now three years old and is 40-1/2" tall!
Because of his prematurity, he now wears glasses (one eye is nearsighted, the other is farsighted). He is attending a school for children who are behind. He loves school! He is doing well and catching up to his age group steadily.
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