NOT Good!

Parker is NOT doing well tonight. It is still amazing to me how he can go from one extreme to the other. This evening we took a ride out to Lance's bow shop and on the way home we got a call from Parker's doctor. She said they put him back on the ventilator, started him on 3 different antibiotics, tested his blood for an infection, put him under a heat lamp and reinserted his replogle (takes fluids out of his stomach). He was having continual apnea spells between 5:30pm and 7:00pm so he is showing signs of an infection.

As soon as they put him back on the ventilator he stopped breathing. The vent is 80% oxygen and is doing ALL of the breathing for him. When they finally decided to put him back on the vent he was worn out. When Lance called and talked to the nurse practitioner this evening (9:00pm), she said he looks much worse than he did the last time. They did another x-ray to determine if he has Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and he still shows no signs, which is good.

"Necrotizing" means the death of tissue, "entero" refers to the small intestine.

I think Lance and I are just very frustrated right now and wondering why they didn't check his blood again at the end of his treatment to make sure the infection he had was completely gone. We both asked, but they said they don't do that. It is hard to get used to or understand why they react to his actions vs. being more proactive with his treatment.

Blood test results as of 10:30pm
CBC - Complete Blood Count

• White blood cells = 39 (normal count is around 9) - He definitely has an infection!!!!
• Hematocrit = 21 anything below 30 is not good - He will be getting another blood transfusion!!!! (The last transfusion was given to him when his hematocrit was 29)
• Oxygen is now down to 34%...down from 80% - This is better than a couple of hours ago!!!!
• Blood Gas - CO2 was elevated
• The heat lamp is adjusting to Parker off of a probe that is stuck to his foot. If his body temperature goes done the heat lamp goes up!!!!

They also decided to do a urine culture. We will not know what type of infection or infections Parker has for a few days. They will need to grow out the cultures they took this evening. He is stable now, but every hour brings something new.

Anyone that believes in the power of prayer as much as we do...start praying!!!! Lance and I know that the only reason we have made it this far is because of every one's faith and belief in the healing power of prayer.

With Love,
The Ringhands