We have been waiting for the weekend to pass, so we can go home. Mitchell reached his feeding goal at 1 a.m on Saturday & tolerated the progression well. Since we are a distance from the hospital, his surgeon wanted us to wait until Monday to leave.
Mitchell has had a little activity today, & it has been good that we are still here. This morning his new g-tube came out, apparently due to a faulty balloon; he took a little trip to radiology this morning & returned with a nice new tube. Wasn't fun for him, but he recovered nicely.
I think I mentioned last week that he had a small amount of blood in a few diapers; well, this morning it was more substantial. They re-visited the idea of a milk intolerance & placed him back on formula. It will take several days to transition and establish if it will make a difference.
He is being monitored, and they will recheck his labs in the morning. We should be able to go home once the bleeding has improved as long as his blood counts remain stable. His abdominal scans have remained negative as well as a G-tube study that was performed today. It is possible that the problem was exacerbated by a blood thinner used to flush his PICC line (alternative to an IV).
Thank you for your continued prayers; Maybe our next update will be telling you that we are headed home.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Our Departure may be Delayed
Friday, June 26, 2009
Getting Closer
Mitchell's feeding is up to 15 cc/hr; Other than the occasional cries that we think are from gas pains, he seems to be doing well. His radiology and lab reports have been good, and we anticipate leaving on Monday. Since we are out of the area, the CT surgeon prefers that we don't leave on the weekend. We are looking forward to getting home & being together as a family.
Thank you for your continued prayers & notes of encouragement.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Back in Step Down
Mitchell was transferred out of CICU back to Cardiac Step Down about 3 today. His abdominal xray this morning was normal, so the doctor is no longer concerned about the pneumotosis. They stopped the antibiotics and started his feeding at 3 cc/hr. The plan is to increase by 2 cc/hr every 8 hrs, so we will be here a few more days getting to a goal of 22 cc/hr. If all goes well with the progression of his feeding, we should be able to go home within a day or so of meeting the goal.
Thank you for your continued prayers for us.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Post Op Fundo/G tube
Just a quick update- Mitchell is still in CICU. They don't want to move too quickly. The GI surgeon wanted to give his stomach a rest- he is on nutrition via his IV for the night, and they are planning to start his feeding back via his new tube tomorrow. He has been having abdominal scans daily since Friday related to a small amount of blood noted in a few of his diapers; although radiology reports have been negative, we were told today that the GI surgeon was looking at questionable Pneumatosis (a potential issue with gas in the wall of the bowel).
He required a little blood today which is not unusual after his surgery. Other than that, he looks more like himself again- the ventilator was weaned over night & discontinued this morning about 6. A lab value indicative of inflammation was elevated today, but that could be from the surgery as well. Blood cultures were sent last night to rule out infection- the preliminary report was negative.
We are thankful for the close nursing supervision right now & praying for resolution of the intestinal issues.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Out of Surgery
Jodi called over an hour ago to report that Mitchell is back from surgery. Neither of us had computer access at the time, hence the delay in posting this. Thankfully, there were no real complications, just a little difficulty in getting an IV started, but the surgery went well and he's now back in NICU for a short time until everything has stabilized. He could be back in step-down as early as tomorrow. Please continue to pray that his feeding will progress quickly so that he can begin to put on weight.
Father's Day photos
