Mary Carol's Last Day

Today was Mary Carol's last day. We will be sad to see her leave. She will now be at Children's Hospital. Another resident will have Parker starting tomorrow. The residents rotate monthly. So far Parker has been blessed to have two wonderful residents...first Sarah and then Mary Carol...hopefully the trend continues for Parker to have the best.

Apparently the meeting that was held yesterday to discuss the different case studies went well. Everyone agreed that Parker's treatment should stay the same and they are all glad that the request was made to see if this is the same infection as before. Depending on the outcome of the type match from the health department the treatment may or may not change.

Again...Thanks Mary Carol for caring for our little boy!! Keep in touch and say hi to Sarah for us. Oh yeah...feel free to give Dr. B the blog address as well.

Ouch and Ouch

Parker had been resting comfortably this morning without many issues. Not much new to say except that the results of his abdomen and chest ultrasound came back . Nothing definitive, his lungs looked marginally better with no evidence of an infiltrate or ascites, excess fluid outside the lungs and his abdominal organs. However, his diaphragm on his right side is not functioning properly. This could be why his lungs are not inflating correctly. The good news is the diaphragm is not paralyzed. They will be doing the CT scan of his head sometime tomorrow and will take a close look at the portion of his brain that controls the diaphragm. Infection could have also have effected the function of the lungs. If nothing turns up we'll probably be reaching out to Children's Hospital. It is also possible that this clears up as he gets stronger and healthier.

Today was spinal tap day. Ouch! The neonatal fellow was the first to try. Parker didn't cooperate. She tried to stick him in a sitting position which dropped his heart rate. After a few minutes of stimulation, his rate climbed back up. They left him on his side and continued. The first stick was very bloody and they decided to try again (... double ouch). Stephanie, handed off to Dr. Schibler who did get fluid, it was also very bloody. The fluid will be cultured to look for infection but I don't know how confident we will be with the protein level and white blood cell count. We'll see.

The CT scan is still scheduled for tomorrow. It will be his first trip out of his little cubical. He gets to ride in a transport pod with the ventilator and his monitors. It's a short trip that includes an elevator.

All of Parker's doctors are changing this week, some today and the remainder next week. More on this later.

Monday night

Parker is doing well tonight. His Oxygen is down to 29%. We still do not have any results from the ultrasound today so I am sure we will know more tomorrow during rounds. He tolerated the ultrasound okay. They did give him a little extra oxygen when the took it, but that is to be expected.

day of life 62

This is going to be a huge week for Parker. Tomorrow is day 21 of his antibiotics so he is going to have many many tests to determine the treatment here on out. Today he will be getting an abdominal ultrasound of his lungs and liver. His lungs are still very collapsed so they need to decide what to do next. Tomorrow he will be getting another lumbar puncture aka spinal tap to see if the infection is still in his spinal fluid. Wednesday he will finally be getting his CT scan. This is the cat scan that he will have to be moved to the machine in order to take the test. Parker will not be taken off of the antibiotics until all of the results of these tests are back as well as the ID test from the Health Department. (Is this infection the same as the last infection?)

Today is also the day for the round table discussion of Parker's treatment. I asked if Lance and I are able to go and they said...no way. The residents are not invited either. The discussion is only for the attending staff of NICU doctors. I am sure they are worried about lawsuits and parents asking a million and one questions...and lawsuits...lol!!!

They have these types of discussions when the case stands out from the "norm". This will also help determine treatment here on out. Parker's case has been far more complicated than the "normal", so I am sure they will learn from going through his medical history. We will keep you posted on the outcome of this meeting.

Sunday Night

Today was the last day that the girls will be able to visit Parker in the hospital. They have started to restrict visitors...starting with children. Last year during the flu and cold season they restricted everyone but the parents from visiting the babies. We are not there yet, but the nurses said that they will probably do the same thing this year. They keep stressing the importance of getting the flu shot this year and no one should be around Parker that hasn't received the flu shot.



Crystal thought that it was important for me to hold Parker today. I have not been able to hold him for a month. It took her and Eric (from respiratory) to place him on my chest. Parker did very very well. He needed to have some "good" touch. The last couple of weeks the only time he has been touched was when they were hurting him with IVs and blood tests.





This picture was actually taken on Saturday. Above are Parker's two primary nurses. Crystal on the left and Holly on the right. We love these two women very much and know that he is in very good hands. They are his angels...his protectors. Lance and I appreciate the love that they've shown our son and our family.

All of Parker's nurses have been exceptional. We are grateful for Penny and her wisdom. Neka for her kind spirit. Beth for her prayers and all of the other NICU nurses for tending to Parker's every need.

Evening check in

Parker looks good tonight. He is moving around a lot and is weighing in at 4 pounds 2 ounces. They do not plan to make any changes until next week. Next week will be very busy for Parker. He will be finishing up his antibiotics so will have a few extra test to ensure the infection is 100% gone this time.

Tonight was a good night. We spent the evening celebrating Baby David's first birthday. David was born at 28 weeks and is an amazing little boy. We had so much to celebrate...he has been through a lot in one year. It was so nice to spend the evening with our family. We love you baby David!!!

Friday looks good

Parker looked really good to me today. He was awake a good portion of the time we were there. I love, love, love seeing him awake and looking around. Lance and I both missed rounds this morning. They did rounds way earlier than the usual. They have decided that they will not be changing anything except for increasing his feeds gradually until he has finished this round of antibiotics. I think that is a good decision...gives my little guy a chance to rest.