Waiting

Well, we are waiting things out now.  When there is nothing I can do, I find something to do and that means taking pictures and posting on the blog! Keeps my mind busy.

If his oxygen needs do not improve, there is a possibility he could be transferred to the cities. We hope not, but all we can do is pray and hope he fights this off today.  Stupid pneumonia.

A huge thanks to Eye Surgeons and Physicians for sending our little Brody Bear a Brody Bear.  And to Abby, Mike, and kids for the adorable little puppy dog.  He is going to be very fond of these, I can tell.

Thursday, January 31st, 2013

Our Baby

 

Brody needed intubation last night after his blood gas results came back poor. He wasn't able to take in enough oxygen and expel enough CO2 to keep the gas levels in his blood well.  He is fully sedated, but he can hear us.  He was just moving around too much so he was given more sedative.  They don't want him fighting against the vent right now.  He is still requiring 90% oxygen over the vent, which is concerning the doctors and nurses.  The goal for today would be to ween him down, but yet still give him enough so his body can rest and heal.

I am posting some pictures so you can see the progression of this.  On Sunday, he was absolutely normal except he didn't eat much.  We went to church, then Grandma came down for lunch and he was being silly with his new hat.

Sunday night Brody woke up and threw up.  We cleaned him up and thought he might need a little bit of something since he hadn't eaten all day.  We gave him some milk and part of a banana, which he took great but proceeded to throw up.  We put him back in bed and woke up early to bring Russ to the dentist.  Russ had a tooth extracted on Monday.

 

Monday, by 11:00, Brody had a fever and seemed to be breathing a little heavy, so I took him in to the clinic at 1:15.  It wasn't a black and white decision to admit him, but to be on the safe side he was admitted.  Thank God.

 

Me and my "too big" pj's, just getting admitted.

 

He was pretty normal for the rest of Monday and into Tuesday. He was getting Tamiflu, Prednisalone (oral steroid), Antibiotic, and then nebs every 4 hours.  Since he didn't seem to be improving on his lung sounds, the doctor ordered a chest x-ray, where pneumonia was found.  He had a previous normal x-ray a week earlier at the clinic, so we know we caught it early.

 

He was pretty good on Tuesday, and we even took a walk in the hallway.  He didn't eat this entire time, but he was still drinking fluids and peeing and pooping (sorry if that is too much information, but this blog doubles as my journal for later, lol).

 

Wednesday was a different story.  He was really clingy and sleepy.  He laid on the couch and watched TV, which literally never happens.  So we knew something was up.

 



 

The Dr. decided to put in an IV and run some anti-biotics to get them in his blood stream as a precaution.  Good thing, too, because by the time the IV was in, he also needed fluids.  Three different people had to try to insert the IV because his veins were too tiny.

 

His breathing became progressively worse, he spiked a fever, and he was repirating at 60-80 breaths per minute.  He looked like he was running as fast as he could. He was retracting at the ribs and neck and working extremely hard to breath so they moved him to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). When trying to draw blood, the tech could not get any from his vein so they had to prick his finger and milk it out.  His blood gas was normal at 8:00, but by midnight it was going downhill so they intubated him.

The doctors and nurses think that the problem is the combination of pneumonia, which has now spread to both sides (it was just on the right at first), on top of already asthmatic lungs and now bronchiolitis.

I went home for a few hours and slept last night, first time since Monday.  It is cold out there. Brr.  Russ and Grandma M. are here today too.

Sick Baby

Mr. Brody is one sick little baby tonight.  Let me start at the beginning.  He was running a fever and threw up Sunday night, so I took him in to the clinic on Monday afternoon.  He had a bit of a breathing issue, an asthma flareup, so he was admitted to St. Cloud Hospital on Monday afternoon.  He was being given nebulizer treatments every 4 hours and was playing and happy.  On Tuesday, his breathing wasn't getting any better, so the Dr. ordered a chest x-ray, which revealed a pneumonia on the right side of his lungs.  He was started on an oral antibiotic.  Tuesday night, he started to work harder to breathe, so the Dr. ordered chest PT.  Basically, they pound on the back with a little device to loosen up the crud in his lungs.  His oxygen needs steadily rose and he was up to 4 liters at one point in the night. 

Wednesday (today) got progressively worse.  There is now bronchiolitis in addition to the pneumonia.  He was moved to the ICU tonight, where he is getting IV steroids, IV antibiotics, and fluids.  He is getting continuous nebulizers through a mask with 6 liters of oxygen.  This is in addition to the Tamiflu and instead of the oral antibiotic and prednisalone (steroid) he was on before.  He is very dehydrated.  They had trouble getting the IV in and could not draw blood intraveneously.  They had to prick his finger and squeeze it out, which was a long drawn out process.  He is going to be monitored for the next 2-3 hours and if his breathing does not improve, he will be intubated.  Right now, his temp is 102.2 and he just got a dose of Tylenol.  He is breathing as though he is running full speed.  Watching his tummy retract is crazy.  The respiratory therapist counted over 60 breaths per minute.  We are in good hands; the doctor is a partner of our Pulmonologist from Children's in Minneapolis.  I heard that Children's in Minneapolis is full.  Lots of sick kids in Minnesota tonight.

 

Brody on his new trike from Papa and Grandma at Christmas.  He can't reach the pedals yet, but he is constantly climbing on and trying it out.  He also enjoys his learning puppy from the Mulhollands and his See'N'Say from Chris, Trista, Natalie, and Collin.

 

Winter Wonderland