September 28, 2008: Day 28 (I survived, "positive" news, and 3 pounds)

First, the information I'm sure all of you have been waiting anxiously for...

I finished the 100 miles (103.1 to be precise) in 6 hours, 53 minutes of riding time (doesn't include time at the 3 pit stops). I ran out of gas at the 95 mile mark, and limped to the finish. I did really well the first 60 miles, averaging over 16 mph, but miles 65-75 were VERY hilly with about 1500 ft of elevation gain, and it wiped me out. OK, some riders out there who are half my age do fly by me going 23+ mph, and probably consider me to be slow, but this was a ride, not a race. I did get up to 39 mph on one of the long descents. By comparison, the Tour de France riders go over 65 mph descending the Alps, but they are crazy. It was a great day for riding, low 80s and sunny with very little wind. It was a chilly 46-degrees at the the 7:30am start, so I spent much of the day removing layers of clothing, sleeves, etc and then cramming them into my pouch.

What, not the information you were looking for?

Aidan's eye goo tested positive for staph infection, so they have started him on antibiotic eye drops, and have put up one of those STOP signs in front of him now. He also tested positive for staph from the nose sample. We've been told that staph bacteria is everywhere, and is on everyone's skin. The doctor is not worried about this yet, and says that they will be watching extra-closely for any change in Aidan.

At tonight's weighing, I was joking with nurse Lee that Aidan only needs 45-50 grams to make it to 3 pounds. He commented that this is probably a stretch. As a joke, he left all of the cables on the scale for the first weighing, and it came up 3 lbs 0.5 oz. We all laughed and he said he needs to re-do it without the cables. On second weighing, Aidan was 1360 grams, 3 lbs exactly!!! He gained 45 grams again. (OK, using the grams to pounds converter 1360 is actually 2.9982867657143353 pounds, but they round to the nearest tenth of an ounce).

It's Sunday, so they did a full body measurement today. He is now 37 3/4 cm long (14 7/8 inches) and his head is 26 cm around (10 1/4 inches). In the last week, Aidan has:

- Gained 240 grams (8.5 oz)
- Grew 7.5 mm (1/4 inch)
- His head grew 1.25 cm around (1/2 inch)

He had a good day with his oxygen levels, and was actually back to room air for a little while. We hope this trend continues so we can get back on the track of weaning him off of CPAP. We can't wait for him to be off of the "bubble machine".