Wednesday, July 15

Hoping for the Best

We've had a crazy, hectic, mostly amazing few days! We had the best weekend we could have asked for. Bryce was doing absolutely great and we had tons of family in from Waco to Corpus Christi to visit. We even had a chance to get out a little to eat dinner with family and go home for a couple of hours.


Monday was a hard day that started out great and took an abrupt turn for the stressful. Just a little reminder of how suddenly things can change in the NICU.

Poppa was babysitting while I was out to lunch with my Aunt Gene, Uncle Lolo and cousins Andrea and Tim. Everything was great when I left but by the time I got back they were in full on panic mode.

Bryce had been given another dose of the paralytic (which I loathe!) and then desatted with a heartrate drop as quickly as it took effect. They got him back up but it happened again. That's when I walked in.

Poor Poppa to have to be here alone for that, I know what it's like and it's terrifying. A blood gas test indicated that although Bryce was doing an excellent job of oxygenating his blood his CO2 levels were sky high. They tried suctioning him and repositioning him to no avail.

Finally the doctor came in and said he thought it was the oscillator so he asked them to restart it while he bagged Bryce for the third time that afternoon. As luck would have it the oscillator would not restart and panic set in once again.

Of course, the other oscillator was in storage and not tuned yet so Dr. Kelly was Bryce's ventilator for several minutes. The good news is that Bryce has always done well when being bagged so he was okay during the mayhem. Dr. Kelly finally decided that they should just try the conventional ventilator since the paralytic was given because he was fighting the oscillation of that ventilator anyway. The conventional was already in the room and on standby so they hooked it up in just a couple of minutes.

Unfortunately, another blood gas test came back with even higher CO2 levels so the decision was made to reintubate Bryce with a larger ET tube. He had had a significant air leak around his tube for a couple of weeks but he was so small no one could believe he needer the next size up. Turns out he did.

Once the new, larger tube was in Bryce rallyed and got his CO2 back down to within normal quite quickly. He's been holding steady ever since. His skin looks great and he's lost most of the swollen puffiness that he had gained last week with his kidneys taking their hiatus.

Caleb held him last night for a couple of hours and he tolerating all of the commotion remarkably well. He rested through the night so well that the medical director, Dr. Hodges, came by this morning to see why he hadn't had to run to Bryce's bedside all night.


Today they are weaning his pain meds again and going up on his feeds again. Both good things that he is so far tolerating well.

We couldn't be more proud of how well Bryce is doing considering all of the hurdles has had to face in his short life. As I was reminded of in rounds this morning by Dr. Kelly, Bryce has many predictors of long term developmental problems. But as Dr. Kelly added, we still have many reasons to be optimistic.

All we can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. However this all turns out we feel absolutely blessed to have Bryce in our lives and that's enough for us.

7 comments :

  1. simply precious...Way to go Bryce!

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  2. He sure knows how to keep y'all on your toes already! Just wait 'til he gets home and you are chasing him all over the place. I'm so glad that the traditional vent is doing well for him, but I'm sorry he had to go through all of that in the meantime.

    He is absolutely adorable and you can tell he is growing! Way to go on the feeds and the decrease in his pain meds!!!

    -Tami

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  3. he is so beautiful..our prayers are with you

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  4. I love all the pictures! He is SO SO cute! It is so neat that your hospital is letting you hold him too, ours made us wait a month while he was on the oscillator. Sorry you had that big scare, we had the same thing happen with needing a bigger ET tube. He just is keeping everyone on their toes!

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  5. So glad that Bryce handles everything as well as he does. He's a true champion. Love the new pictures of him, he's adorable!

    Hugs and Prayers,
    Weslea and Brian

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  6. Man, baby Bryce definitely knows how to keep things interesting. I can see it now, he's going to be one of those kids that hide around corners and jump out at you. AND maybe if you're lucky he'll hide inside a clothing rack while shopping, sending you into a panic. Then he'll get spanked by a complete stranger before being returned to you. Oh wait...maybe that already happened to someone?! I can't remember. LOL! :)

    Love ya!

    Jen

    Bryce,

    I'm so proud of you, handsome! Keep up the good work!

    I love you!

    XOXO,

    Jen

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  7. Such a strong willed little angel. Hang in there Bryce. We are all rooting for you. You can do this!!!!!

    Love and prayers,

    Shawna & Rickey

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