Dad & I met Drayke's new attending physician yesterday. He is guardedly optimistic. He likes our attitude about Drayke's care and how we are well aware of potential outcomes for our son. We both liked him.
Dr M is changing the vent settings to be more PICU settings rather than NICU. Drayke is old enough to be a pediatric patient and a lot of the time he is still being treated as a micro preemie even though he is 11 pounds 4.3 ounces. Time for a change in the mindset. Fewer breaths with a higher, deeper volume. He is responding very well to the new settings.
Last night I decided to pop over to the hospital after going to Centennial for a bit. Our friend from there was rooming in & getting discharged in the morning. Congrats Dax!!!
Anyway, I get to Drayke's room to see his heart rate at 200+ (he is normally in the 100-135 range)but his O2 saturations were still in the 90's. WTF? I asked the nurse what's going on & she mentioned how he has not been comfortable since she got there at 7PM. I touched his head and he was hot. Extremely hot. I took his temperature three times because I did not believe what I was seeing. 104.6 degrees! I flipped out & told the nurse she needs to call the doctor now to figure out what is going on with my son. I called dad, who was asleep at the RMH, to get over to the hospital now. While the nurses were getting draws for assorted cultures, I had a cool wet washcloth on his head. Within an hour he was back down to normal, and this is without any Tylenol in him.
So, in the space of three hours he went from normal to a major temp spike then back to normal again. The nurse suggested it could be a symptom of withdrawl from the morphine. Dad told Drayke that he needs to stop scaring mama like this and little man smiled at his father!
This morning we are showing growth in both the peripheral & broviac blood draws. Looks to possibly be another staph or strep infection. His PICC line has been pulled because it has been repaired twice so it could a source of infection. Drayke is now on another 7 day course of antibiotics.
The good thing is he is not acting or statting like he is sick. His numbers are looking great. Dr M has upped his morphine .02 to see if withdrawl was the cause of last nights episode. He is making no other med or vent changes until Wednesday. His RT Sherry wants to knock his nitric to 10 and his O2 to 70 but the doc said no, lets give him a day of being left alone.
On an extermely sad note, a little girl died today in our pod. She was born on Friday, full term. They tried the ECMO to help cleanse the ammonia out of her blood but it ended up causing a grade 4 bleed in her brain. I have been on the edge of weepy all day because even though they arent your children you are always afraid this could be you next. We finally spoke to her mother last night and hugged her as she cried.
2 comments:
It's nice that you got to talk with and comfort the mother. When babies died at our NICU we never saw the parents again. I still think of the mother of one baby girl. Our daughters had very similar situations, but for some reason mine lived and hers did not. There is no justice in the NICU.
So sorry to hear about the passing of that sweet baby girl. I know her mother will always be grateful to you for your sympathy and comfort during such a difficult time.
I'm glad Drayke continues to do so well - what a great, tough kiddo. Sounds like his new Dr. is a good one too. Hopefully, he won't spike a fever like that again though. How scary!
As always, thanks for the updates!
Erin
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