Prayers for Justin March 22,2001 The doctors have concluded that Justin has a deficiency in the anti-clotting agents in his blood- which contributed to the clot he had in the first shunt. They don't offer much for a cause- they think it could even just be the fact that these things are precarious in babies- we just don't usually know what the levels are since we don't monitor blood in healthy babies... Not to mention that the body does funny things after trauma- & the surgery put him through it... Anyway, they really believe it's his antithroman 3 (AT3) that is the problem. Basically, what it means for Justin now is more blood thinners, some plasma... & today a transfusion. But they don't seem to think that is necessarily so grim... In fact, they moved him back to the NICU (the less critical ward) this afternoon. I don't really know what to make of it all, yet... Some of you heard about the episode yesterday with the saturation levels going crazy and then dropping, the anti-clotting factor deficiency, & the chest xray... Apparently, they think the saturation level problem could be a combination of everything going on as well as the position he was in at the time (decreased levels of oxygen being taken in because of the positioning of his head & neck)... The blood test did show a decrease in the anti-clotting agents, but that's apparently been up & down before- they just adjust the levels of blood thinner to each test result. The chest xray showed nothing new. He was still on oxygen when I left this afternoon, but hopefully he'll be off of it soon- they are weaning the amounts until he can be back on room air again. I don't know how much of a concern it is to the doctors... obviously, I was very upset, but they haven't acted too worried, really. His color didn't change during it all, either, which is a good sign... I'm cautiously optimistic, but still reeling from this rollercoaster ride- I just don't know what to make of it all right now... He's still eating really well. He shows signs of hunger & eagerly takes a bottle. He doesn't have a feeding tube at all now. Hopefully I'll find out a little more tomorrow... I'll send another update out soon... Please continue praying for my baby... & for us to have the strength to help him through this... ~aleasha Click the angel wings to fly back to Justin's home page Click above to return to Justin's Story page