Scary Calls and Large Trucks

One of the nice things about not being able to be with Aaron 24/7 is that other than 2 hours during the day we can call and talk with his nurse at any time to see how he is doing. (Assuming nothing major is going on that they can't answer the phone!) What we don't like, although we appreciate, is when they call us. Its never good news, its usually to tell us something has come up and they are needing to change something in his treatments. We've had a few of these calls and I cringe every time I see University of Utah on the caller id.

Just after we finished dinner one of these calls came in. Aaron had a grade 4 A&B. A stands for apnea and B stands for bradycardia (sp?). Basically he stops breathing which eventually drops his heart rate or it stops all together. It goes from Grade 0-4. 0 is when they recover on their own, 1-3 requires stimulation to recover, and a Grade 4 is when they have to bag them and breathe for them. Aaron has had A&B's off and on since they took him off his caffeine. He's only had 0-2's. Mostly 0's. He has never had a Grade 4, so when the hospital calls to tell us he has just had one, our hearts stop and we find that we are holding our breath as well. Ronny and I jumped in our cars and headed up. We took two cars just in case I would need to stay the night.

The nurses are not sure what caused him to do this. He had been upset during the afternoon and wanted to be held. They eventually gave him Versed to calm him down, which I was not happy about. He would calm down when someone held him. No one called me, I would have come up to hold him. I would rather have someone hold him (preferably me!) instead of giving him anti-anxiety meds. I told the daytime nurse this and she said she would call me, but she didn't. They are not sure this caused the A&B, in fact I have a hunch it stems from his heart issues. He only wants to be on his stomach or have someone holding him. When we did his cares later last night he was having another fit. He wasn't calming down again and they told me I wasn't able to hold him because of what happened. When the nurse stepped away I put my hands in and picked him up. I just gently rocked him inside his isolette and he calmed right down. I held him like that while his sheets were changed and while we weighed him. He just watched me the entire time. He didn't cry or fuss at all. All he wanted was to be held. Once again he shows us he is older than he looks.

We made our way home later to see the construction process behind our home in full swing, it was 11:30 p.m. One street over ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition is building a house for a family from Taylorsville. We were notified last Saturday they would be coming. Our streets are shut down, security guards are at each street, crazy bright lights are all over the field across from us, and foot and car traffic have significantly increased. I really am happy for the family who is getting this house, its just really inconvenient when we are already sleep deprived. The beeping of the trucks and construction noise was constant all night long. I really feel bad for those who are in the condos right next to the house site, I talked to one of them yesterday and she already had a giant headache before the actual kick-off started. After I got home I realized I should have offered for her to sleep here for the next week, maybe I'll go find her again today. There truly is never a dull moment around here!