Buck Hunter Dugas' Fight to Thrive

BUCK UPDATE

DAY 91

2-25-2025

Over the weekend, Buck stayed here with Nurse Mary, a nurse we trusted to leave Buck comfortably with over the weekend. I finally took the chance to spend the weekend at home with my family, and I really missed all the other kids. We had a blast together, and it was much needed. I took them to Mass, and with all the rain, we mostly stayed inside, just being close, hanging out, and enjoying time together. It was a simple weekend, but after being away from home for so long, it meant everything.

Buck has been working hard in physical therapy, and we’re seeing progress! He can roll over, but let’s be honest, he just doesn’t want to. He’s got all the parts of the roll figured out, but he’s not a fan of being on his belly. If you put him on his stomach, he’ll flip to his back in no time, but ask him to go the other way? Not happening. He’s also reaching, grabbing, playing with his toys, and now working on sitting up. On top of that, he started music therapy today, and I have a feeling he’s going to love it. Through it all, he’s still the happiest baby, always ready to “chat” with anyone who will listen.

Considering everything he has been through, including being premature and all the setbacks he has faced, his physical and developmental milestones are actually pretty impressive. Where he is falling behind, it’s mostly because he just doesn’t have the strength yet due to being so undernourished. But once he starts growing more on TPN and gets some good weight behind him, I have no doubt he’ll catch up quickly.

Buck stayed on his 4 mL rate with no changes. He hasn’t been throwing up, but he has been coughing and gagging a lot. His poops are still a mess, very mucousy and sticky, with blood clots and spots showing up off and on.

Tomorrow, he has a gastric emptying study. It’s similar to other tests he’s had, but this one is more in-depth, following the barium contrast beyond his stomach and through his intestines. Why hasn’t this already been done? No clue, but here we are.

On the nutrition side, his TPN is helping him gain weight, but slowly. Right now, he’s putting on about 7 grams a day when his goal should be at least 30 grams. He’s gained at that rate before on TPN, so why not now? Probably a mix of diet tweaks and refeeding syndrome. Hopefully, they’ll get his diet right soon so he can start packing on the weight like he needs to. Once he shows a solid upward trend, we’ll be discharged for a few days before heading to our next outpatient appointment or new hospital. We are definitely targeting Cincinnati, and unless a miracle happens in the next couple of weeks, that’s where we will end up. We’re just waiting on the outpatient appointment to be scheduled, which has been a slow process with back-and-forth communication. This week, we’re pushing to get that confirmed so that when we check out, we can get up there quickly.

Thank you all for your prayers, support, and for keeping up with Buck’s journey. We appreciate every single one of you.

Buck’s go fund me link

https://gofund.me/9a55517c

#BUCKSTRONG #FaithOverFear #LittleFighter #GodIsGood #BabySteps