Another Setback

Today I dropped off the kids and Nana at the zoo and headed over to the hospital. When I arrived I noticed several people standing around Aaron's bed. I asked what was going on. I then looked up at the computer monitor and noticed Aaron's heart rate was on the low side and he was having a hard time keeping his O2 stats up. I looked at the nurse and she said he was having another "episode" and that he had been having them all night. His oxygen had been maxed out at 100%. The nurse practitioner came in and told me they were going to change his breathing machine to a c-pap machine that would give him more help with a higher pressure. She said that sometimes after they extubate these little ones and then put them on the high-flow machines they do well at first and then slowly start to loose the power to keep going. She thinks Aaron just doesn't have the muscle mass to continue to do everything on his own. The c-pap machine will give him the help he needs and if he does well enough they will put him back on the high flow machine later. His stats looked much better after changing machines. He then had an x-ray which set him off again but I was able to calm him down. Then he had an echo. He did not like that! He fought the tech every minute but he was able to complete the test. Right after the was completed the nurse and I jumped in to clean him off, change his diaper, and settle him down. We were able to calm him down fairly quickly. Today I heard my little one cry, he cried quite a bit. I wanted to just hold him close to me and I used all that I had to keep myself from reaching in and taking him out of that bed and holding him close. I'm so glad he calmed down quickly after that echo or else I may not have been able to stop myself from doing just that.

The results of this x-ray show that his pic-line may have been pulled back during one of the tests or one of the episodes he was experiencing. This may have to be reinserted. His echo is another matter. This indicated that Aaron has pulmonary hyper-tension. He was treated with nitrous oxide and his stats seemed to stabilize immediately tonight. It also showed that the PDA that was diagnosed earlier has come time to be addressed. The preliminary notes show that it is moderate to large in size. The pediatric cardiologist at Primary Children's is going to look at the echo tomorrow morning and recommend medication or heart surgery to close the gap in his heart. We will know sometime tomorrow afternoon what has been determined.

Keep praying.