12/16/2009 "minor" setbacks

So this week has been kind of rough for Malachi. We are still in the process of trying to find the right medications and dosages to control his heart arrhythmias as well as getting him stable from a respiratory standpoint. He had been weaned to Vapotherm at 4 down to 3. Then from Vapotherm 3 down to straight nasal cannula (he was at times needing up to 40% oxygen with the NC). Last night he had a prolonged respiratory event where his respiratory rate was ranging from 100-110 with very labored breathing. They put him back on Vapotherm 3 and gave him an albuterol treatment. He seemed to be doing better with it today, but his lungs are very very gunky.

Also, Malachi has proven to have not very good veins for his peripheral IVs. Because of his fever the other day, PIVs are super important so that antibiotics can be administered. They were giving him vancomycin as a general antibiotic, but it has a pretty harsh effect on Malachi's veins. He has gotten three IVs placed in the last three days (they attempted a PICC line last Friday 3 times with no luck) AND the nurse tonight will probably try to insert another IV tonight kind of as backup in case the one in his arm fails to flush later. :(

Over the past two days, his fever has subsided BUT we received a call after we left the hospital tonight that his blood cultures were growing bacteria. The nurses mentioned sepsis which can lead to severe problems, especially in Malachi's situation. He will be very sick for a while and I'm sure they will want to keep him pretty medicated with antibiotics and sedation-type medications. Please pray that Malachi will be able to ward of this infection. Because the infection is traveling in his blood stream, it is most likely causing lots of functions to work at a slower rate. For instance, usually when they pull the "leftover" milk out of his tummy before starting another feed, there is 0-1 ml of fluid. Tonight when she did it for his 11:00pm feeding, there was easily 9-10 ml that came out of his tummy. The NICU doctor wants to be sure that the bacteria isn't taking up root or affecting his heart, so they have ordered and echocadiogram for the morning.

He is sick, Emerson is sick, and now I am sick. Please pray for all of us to get better and for me to be able to handle not going to the hospital tomorrow. My heart hurts just thinking about it. It's late, but I needed to get all this out of my head before falling asleep. We also met with developmental peds and physical therapy today. I will look back at my notes and probably add more about that tomorrow. Thank you again for your prayers.