per pedro’s request
the cpap is the next step for nolan in respiratory/oxygen support. its a mask that supplies a very high pressure of o2 which utilizes nolans nasal passages and helps
reduce the damage the ventilator, tube, and raw o2 are doing to his lungs, trachea, and vocal chords(in addition to giving him the o2 he needs to live). the whole calorie thing i have no explanation for, i seem to understand that 27 calories fortification to karas breast milk is the limit that nolan can digest and absorb nutrients from at a rate of 9.4 cc an hour. any more caloric fortification or volume and he tends to “dump” whatever is coming in, meaning it goes straight through him and straight out into his ostomy bag (his poop bag) and thus not be able to get the nutrition he needs to grow. more later. namaste.
Monday, December 11, 2006 at 2:51 pm
I may be wrong here, but for what it’s worth: If the daily calorie intake for a 150 lb person is 1500-2000 calories, then that would proportionally be about 30-40 calories per day for a three pound person. Now of course we want him to have a surplus of calories to grow big and fat on, not just maintenance calories. I believe mother’s milk generally has between ~0.5-1 cal per ml. How many mls of Kara’s milk is Nolan getting now? He’ll certainly be getting a good number of growing calories out of that, and in the interest of giving him extra calories to grow on, a 27 cal supplement for a three lb person is not too bad. Suck up those calories and grow, grow, grow, little Nolan!
Monday, December 11, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Wow! Thanks Ronan, you’re the best. And Catherine, that was helpful too. I have trouble imagining a 3 pound person.
peter