Too much pudding (or donuts for the non gentile)

Sam gave us a very mixed day today; good reports overnight followed by a very scary afternoon.

He saw in Xmas day quite nicely with a very stable night. He was visited by Santa who left a nice stocking full of gifts (we are constantly amazed by the generosity and charitable spirit here at John Hunter Hospital, I'm very proud to be a Novocastrian at the moment ). Ollie came to visit and started blowing kisses when he saw "bubba" ( I guarantee you Ollie, Sam is easier to say).

This afternoon was a different story. After being rung by the NICU (imagine our hearts when we see that caller ID come up) to tell us he had come off the respirator, we rushed up with a sense of achievement and pride for our little guy. When we arrived it was a different story. He was declining pretty quickly.

The next hour was as tense an hour as we've had so far. Being Xmas there was not a Dr preset in the NICU and the nurses were struggling to find a reason for his decline. Within 3 minutes our Xmas hero Dr Amed was on the scene and got to the bottom of things. Apparently Sam was fighting off a new tube that had been inserted by producing some extra secretions (flem). This was stopping a good oxygen level from being achieved. There were a few other things that are now on their way to being sorted.

He's still needing higher than normal oxygen but we are hoping this will come down in time.

On a more positive note, Sam's left lung made its first appearance today on the X-ray. We haven't seen that...well ever, so this is a great sign. It's small, but it's there. It looks like some of mine and Katie's letters to Santa are being answered.

Happy Chrismaka everyone!