I just want to start with a quick story that Mom just told me. She was sitting out in the family room at Ronald McDonald and this man and her started talking. His three year old son had been at another hospital since January up till 4 weeks ago. At this other hospital they told the family that just needed to call hospice cause there was nothing they could do for their child. As of tomorrow this child will be going home from Riley. He was here for 4 and a half weeks and the whole outlook is different. He was praising Riley for changing everything. This is just another reason why I am happy to be here. It might be hard being 3 hours away from all of our family, but if it is the best for Luke there is no reason we should not be down here. Even when we have bad days like today, I know there is no other place we should be. Today the nurses were wonderful. During the day Lauren was there for any questions that I had, and let me tell you Luke made her earn every penny. Then tonight Melody made sure to have a pep talk with my little man about the kind of night they were going to have. She had him last night also. I know that don't always have the same baby, but it makes me feel better when they do. So lets get to today...hold on tight. At 7:30am this morning Melody called to give me an update from the night before. He was pretty good all night till around 6am when his blood pressure dropped pretty low. Now we have been battling some blood pressure issues the past day, so it didn't really hit me how low it was. So when Mom and I arrived at the hospital I went to see him, I finally saw what they meant about a low blood pressure. His blood pressure was at one time 31/14, so super low. They continued giving him dopamine, and then added 2 other medications for his blood pressure. As the day went on his blood pressure stayed low, and even at one time was not able to be measured. Around 3pm the medications finally started to kick in and his blood pressure came back, and was even in a good place. Lauren was even sure to tell me as soon as I walked in the door, to make me feel better. I was also given the official results of the echo from yesterday on his heart. It is like we suspected, the PDA is open. It is not open much, however it is still there. As of right now since it is so small they are not treating it, hoping it will close on it's own. However, with all the fluids he was given today it might open a little further. They tell me it won't open all the way back up though, let's hope. The doctors then hit me with his stomach issues. He was originally brought down to Riley for suspected NEC, and just two days ago I was told they didn't think that was what was going on. However, today they wanted to do an upper GI study and check to make sure there was not a perforation (hole) or a necrotic section of his intestines. His stomach is still a dusky color and they want to make sure. So a surgeon had been up to see him earlier and they were going to start the GI within the hour. The surgeon did not however think NEC or a perforation was the case, but the nurse practitioner wanted to make sure. At this time I have still have not heard the results of the GI. My fingers, toes, and everything else is crossed that we are not battling a perforation or NEC. This would result in surgery with either and drain or a stoma. I just don't want our little man to be cut open if at all possible. If the GI is negative then it is still the infection from before we are still battling. Once the GI conversation was over we then went on to his ventilator. Apparently since he is so small there is only a small area that works for his ventilator tube and it had moved a little bit. I made the mistake of standing in the room while they manipulated the tube, won't do that again. We can add that to thing I will step out for. It is just a little different when it is your own child, because I never had a problem during clinicals for school. This just puts a whole new outlook on nursing school and how I will do my job when all of this is said and done. By the end of the night when we left the hospital at 8:30pm the little man was resting comfortably, he is swelled up today from all the fluids they gave him to bring up his blood pressure. Hopefully tomorrow he will rid himself of some of it. So as we all go sleep for the evening, my thoughts are on that GI study and if surgery will be taking place. I know what I would like, however it is not up to me. I know there is a reason for everything we are going through and that I can not control it. I also know, like the man said earlier, there is no better place for Luke to be right now. I just have to trust the big man upstairs that he is guiding the medical team. Thank you all again for the prayers, support, and love that you are showing all of us. I know I say it a lot, but we do truly mean it when we say it means a lot to all of us.
* Sorry for no picture today, I just didn't want to remember my little man all puffy.
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